With this summer’s transfer merry-go-round fast approaching, it’s time to see which players have attracted the most attention from Premier League clubs. Whether they’ve been touted as the blockbuster deal of the year or simply become the lower leagues’ most sought after player, they’ve all been discussed in detail by more than one team and will likely find themselves at the centre of a transfer tug of war.

This list looks at 15 players who have already been linked with a number of clubs and qualified as this summer’s most wanted.

Click on Kagawa to unveil the 15 most wanted transfers within the Premier League

Didier Drogba confirmed his faith in Fernando Torres to fill the void and help Chelsea continue their success. Having only scored 7 times for Chelsea since his £50m transfer last January from Liverpool, many critics have slated Torres for his lack of achievement of the Blues.

Drogba was a significant ingredient to the Chelsea first team against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final on Saturday. He assisted in Chelsea’s lifting of the title by scoring an equaliser in the 88th minute and scoring the deciding penalty to win Chelsea the title. Whereas Torres was left to watch from the bench and revealed his disappointment in not given the opportunity.

With Drogba’s news of leaving the club, it gives Torres the opportunity to step out of Drogba’s shadow and become the foremost strike force for Chelsea. Evidence of his capabilities to fill Drogba’s boots was proven during his period at Liverpool scoring over 20 goals every season in all competitions for the Reds. This was furthermore apparent during 2008 Euros when Torres displayed his scoring ability scoring the winning goal for Spain against Germany in the final servicing his country to victory.

‘When you talk about the Premier League you talk about a lot of players with quality so it’s not easy to pick one, by the is amongst the best’’ – Rafael Benitez 2009

Three years later and many people would read this quote and laugh due to his lack of success at Chelsea even though he was previously considered one of the top players of the Premier League. Although only scoring 7 goals so far for the Blues, the goals have been coming more regularly recently scoring a hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers in April which is a promising sign that he is prepared to step up to the mark.

However, now there will be a lot of expectation from the club, the fans and the critics for his performance to improve and to be demanded into scoring on a regular basis for Chelsea. This therefore places a lot of pressure on the Spaniard which could determine his performance to come.

Torres has shown in previous years that his capability to score goals in inevitable. Whilst at Chelsea he has always been over shadowed by the dominant strike force that is Didier Drogba, yet upon his exit of the club reveals the oppourtunity for Fernando Torres to step up into the limelight.

If you think Torres has got it in him, Tweet me @gmileham.

The footballing world have been split over whether additional technology should be used to help official make correct decisions regarding whether the ball crossed the goal-line.

However, Fifa have confirmed that they are dabbling with the idea of introducing technology after seeing success in other sports, and the Hawkeye system will be used for The Three Lions game a week on Saturday.

“Such tests could lead to the International Football Association  Board (IFAB) approving the introduction of GLT at its special meeting at the beginning of July,” a statement reads.

“Only the EMPA observers, IFAB and FIFA representatives at Wembley will have access to the GLT system readings.

“Therefore, should a goal-line incident occur at this or any of the ‘test’ matches, the system will not be utilised by the match officials.

“It means the GLT system will have no influence on the outcome of the matches in which the system is being tested.

“FIFA would like to place on record its sincere thanks to the Football Association for their willingness to support the live match tests, a critical part of Test Phase 2 for goal-line technology.”

By Gareth McKnight

The Anfield hitman has had a largely inconsistent 2011-12 campaign, but improved towards the end of the season with goals for the Merseyside club.

Welbeck is still suffering from an ankle injury that he picked up in the Manchester derby back in April, and is reported to have limped out of Three Lions training this week.

England defender Joleon Lescott has backed Carroll to start for Roy Hodgson’s men in Welbeck and Wayne Rooney’s absence, and pose a real threat to opponents this summer.

“Andy Carroll is a threat in any game,” the Manchester City centre-back told reporters.

“It’s nice to see him getting the media coverage and the high praise he deserves over the last few weeks of the season.

“I’m sure his confidence is high going into the tournament. Andy’s always a handful to play against but when his confidence is high it’s even worse.

“He has great ability, it’s not just in the air. International football is not just about that aerial threat but not many teams have that presence in the air and he brings that to the squad.

“He’s had a good finish, been called into the squad for a major tournament so if his confidence is not high for something like this, there’s not a lot it will be high for. So you’d like to think after his last couple of games and getting called up, this is the best he’s felt about himself,” Lescott admitted.

By Gareth McKnight

The concept of unity and spirit within a football team, are very much like the optional extras you get when purchasing a new car. Like the coffee-cup holders; they’re handy, they make life easier and they go a fair way to preventing complete chaos when it all spills over. However, they’re not life or death. You don’t need the coffee-cup holders to drive to the shops and you don’t need all 23 players in an England squad to be best mates either.

As Roy Keane wrote off England’s Euro 2012 chances yesterday, it was interesting to hear his reasoning behind it. As opposed to pointing out the blindingly obvious fact that our players simply aren’t actually that good, he decided to venture on a tirade about ‘team spirit’ and a ‘lack of unity’.

“I think England, like a lot of countries, not just in soccer, find it hard to get that unity and spirit,” Keane said.

“Michael Carrick didn’t make himself available, Paul Scholes retired a few years ago. Ben Foster has not made himself available. Sometimes they just don’t like what they see when they get together. They don’t want to be part of it.”

Unsurprisingly, the Irishman doesn’t think much of our Euro 2012 chances. But let’s first try to take him at face value. Ignoring the fact he uses the word ‘soccer’, history tells us that this is a man who would seemingly have absolute contempt for squad unity at a major tournament. Indeed, Roy’s unique way of invigorating the Irish national team’s team spirit in preparation for the 2002 World Cup, was to publically undermine his manager, Mick McCarthy, in the media, before lambasting him in a team-meeting, resulting in expulsion from the team.

Yet whilst Keane spent the summer at home walking the dogs, Ireland actually managed a relatively successful tournament- they got out of a group including Germany and a decent Cameroon side and went agonizingly close to the quarter-finals, loosing to Spain on penalties. Not bad for a team that was split down the middle between the allegiances towards either Keane or McCarthy.

Even if we put aside Keane’s hypocrisy, his own examples he uses in the very same interview, contradict his point. As he mentions, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham never got on. In fact, Andy Cole has publically stated he would rather “sit down and have a cuppa with Neil Ruddock, (who broke his leg in two places in 1996) than with Teddy Sheringham, who I’ve pretty much detested for the past 15 years.” Those two may never have played Top Trumps together on the coach, but I’m pretty sure they won the treble with United. But of course that doesn’t count does it, as it’s not an international set-up.

If anything, at club-level you are spending as much time on coaches and in hotels as in a tournament. Players see each other every day in training, for an entire season. The difference is with Cole and Sheringham, is that they were fantastic footballers. For example, If Gareth Barry and Glen Johnson have a huge, falling-out, people will point to that as England’s failure. Not the fact that neither of them are international class players.

Lothar Matthäus and Stefan Effenberg managed to play pretty successfully for Germany and Bayern Munich, despite a bubbling undercurrent of hate between them. The latter even dedicated an entire chapter in his autobiography to slating Matthäus. You can hardly say those two were unified.

Again, the Dutch aren’t just masters of total football, they are the perennial masters of systematic arguing and petty feuds. But Euro 96 aside, they’ve always tended to outperform England at major tournaments. Not because they all liked each other, but because they’re superior footballers. As recent as the 2010 World Cup, Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder were involved in a very public feud. They finished runners-up.

And this is the point that Keane is missing. Unity and team spirit are important traits in any football team, but they don’t define a winning team. The bread and butter is who’s playing and how they’re playing and history shows us that even if great players don’t like each other, they’re still capable of winning football matches.

Keane may be Irish, but his opinions are forged in England. His final quote hits the nail on the head.

“They (the England team at the 2010 World Cup) were holed up somewhere for two or three weeks before and the players were p***** off with that. I think the mentality doesn’t suit England, being stuck in hotels,”

The fact that we concern ourselves more with whether 23 men can keep themselves occupied in a hotel for a fortnight than the fact those 23 men aren’t as good as the other teams competing is problematic. Our failure is continuously pinned on a sideshow, be it WAGS, be it training bases and in this case, the ‘unity of the squad’. Focus on the way the players are playing Roy, not how they’re getting on. As ultimately, that is and always will be, the most important thing.

Think I’m wrong? Will warring and in-fighting ruin our European Championship hopes? Let me know on Twitter, follow @samuel_antrobus

The Three Lions do not have the same hype as usual going into the international tournament, with new boss Roy Hodgson picking the Anfield talisman as his skipper.

However, Gerrard feels that England can cause a few surprises in Ukraine and Poland.

“Usually the experience I’ve had going into tournaments is always the golden generation are going to win it, we’re going to do this,” he told Mirror Football.

“We put two or three results together and the nation gets carried away and also the players start believing that we’re great. Maybe we go into tournaments believing we’re better than we are.

“Maybe in the last two or three tournaments, as a group of players, we’ve maybe thought we were better than what we were.

“I think this time there’s a lot of realism about. Expectations are maybe down because we’ve not performed and we haven’t delivered in the previous tournaments.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to go into this tournament with belief and confidence that we can cause an upset.

“The pressure and the expectation seems to be slightly in our favour this time rather than a hindrance and weight on our shoulders so we’re hoping we can use that to our advantage,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

The sprightly forward has not played since picking up an ankle injury in the Manchester derby, and Roy Hodgson is now believed to be sweating over the Manchester United attacker’s fitness, according to The Guardian.

Welbeck is expected to lead the line for the Three Lions against France and Sweden in the first two games of the tournament, as club team-mate Wayne Rooney is suspended.

However, it appears that Welbeck faces a race against time to be ready for the competition, and will need further rehabilitation to be able to play.

Johnson meanwhile is nursing a minor injury, and could be a doubt for the international friendly against Norway on Saturday; club colleague Martin Kelly has been called into the contingent as a temporary back-up.

The Three Lions’ boss was given a boost however, as Scott Parker negotiated the 90 minute session at the Etihad Stadium unscathed.

By Gareth McKnight

As a fellow ex-Manchester United captain, he certainly has some insight into the mind of his former team mate but do Keane’s remarks raise genuine concern about former players combining media responsibility with their professional duties? When asked about blending the roles Keane said:

“That can be difficult. You can get your way around criticising players by saying: ‘I’d expect the player to do better.’ He probably won’t be as critical as me and speak in the terms I do. I know Gareth [Southgate] does it, but he’s not in the dressing room, he’s not on the training pitch, he’s not working with the players.”

It raises some interesting questions. Will Neville will be able to juggle his TV commitments while coaching the team? As a pundit Neville has been praised for his honest assessments but will he now hold his tongue when criticising English players?

In reality Neville is unlikely to say anything contentious enough to create dressing room animosity and he’s not known for singling out individuals without cause. Players know when they’ve played badly so are unlikely to feel victimised if their performances are scrutinised and they will be looking to new manager Roy Hodgson for gratification.

Neville’s role is fairly peripheral so he should avoid major drama but it does create a potential conflict of interest and he could find himself in a difficult position if he’s not careful. What if he praises a player that Hodgson doesn’t pick or chastises a player before they’re called into the squad? His analysis this season has been unbiased and informative but how will the public react when a coach is seen debating the merits of an England player on national television?

Others have taken a step back when put in a tricky situation by media commitments. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is reconsidering his role as a BBC pundit for Euro 2012 because he wants to avoid undermining Hodgson.

“I’m still trying to make up my mind.”

“I will look at it in the summer. It could be tricky. I wouldn’t be criticising (Hodgson) in any way so I suppose there’s not much point having me on!”

It seems Redknapp will sensibly withdraw himself from the firing line and Neville could follow suit should uncomfortable situations arise next season. Still it’s an excellent opportunity for him and he’ll be keen to see how things develop. Most fans understand that he’s an up and coming coach who offers International experience coupled with some dressing room familiarity. Hodgson has appointed him for a reason and both he and The FA have no qualms about their new coach being a pundit as well. Considering they’ve been quick to avoid controversy in the past is there really anything to worry about?

After all it was The FA who shut down the Capello Index when it was feared the former England manager’s analysis would undermine the team. Potentially embarrassing figures that rated England’s dismal 2010 World Cup performances were quickly removed despite other nation’s data remaining online. It’s an example of how sensitive the authorities can be so surely they foresaw any awkwardness that may arise before giving Neville the go ahead?

Perhaps there is nothing to worry about and Keane’s comments where just the Irishman trying to go against the grain. He has been openly critical of former players and managers during his career so is it surprising his attention is now focused on Neville?

Keane raises potential problems that may befall Neville but his negative slant comes across as an attempt to be provocative rather than rational. Keane has always been outspoken so should people really be concerned by his comments?

Surely if Neville is trusted to be tactful and professional then he should be allowed the freedom to speak to his mind and do his job.

Do you think Neville is a good addition to the England setup? Does Roy Keane have a point regarding conflict of interest? Let me know your views and opinions by following me on twitter – Tweet me @Alex_Churcher

Damiao is not your typical Brazilian striker. He is an imposing, languid forward who provides a tremendous physical presence. Capable of scoring any kind of goal, he has already amassed a large portfolio from acrobatic finishes to poacher’s strikes. He rose to prominence last year as he netted an impressive 38 goals in 51 games for Internacional. Deadly in the box, Damiao has a fantastic sense of positioning that frequently puts him in the right place at the right time.

His excellent form for the Porto Alegre side was noted by Brazil coach Mano Menezes who drafted the prolific forward in for international duty. Damiao has since made five appearances for the Selecao with his first international goal coming against Ghana in September last year. Having made a strong case for regular selection, the 22-year-old is now widely tipped to lead the line for Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.

Despite his youth, Damiao is no stranger to responsibility. A fixture in one of Brazilian football’s premier clubs, the commanding striker is not one to shy away from the big occasion. Not long after his 21st birthday Damiao came on from the bench in the 2010 Copa Libertadores final. With his team narrowly hanging on to a first-leg advantage the striker made an instant impact, putting his side into the lead within four minutes of being on the pitch and leading the side to continental glory.

Another part of that Copa Libertadores winning unit was Sandro, a player who has enjoyed immense development in north London since his transfer. The deal was struck as part of the two clubs affiliation and the midfielder will no doubt attempt to encourage his compatriot to join him at White Hart Lane. Sandro may have endured a difficult start in the English capital but his progression will provide sound reasoning for Damiao to seriously consider a move to Tottenham.

Damiao rapid progression never ceases to amaze and he is becoming an ever more rounded player. Tottenham are looking to make Emmanuel Adebayor’s loan move from Manchester City permanent, but in the Brazilian they would possess ambitious striker, eager to make his mark on the European stage. The Togolese may have impressed during his spell at White Hart Lane, but Damiao offers different qualities. He thrives with the ball played into him and remains composed under pressure. He can retain the ball and involve the players around him, bringing the best out of the supporting wide players and midfielders.

He may not be proven on the European stage but the 22-year-old represents a cheaper and more exciting prospect. Tottenham will face stiff competition to acquire his services with both Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus taking an interest in the striker, but if they can win the race for his signature it could prove to be a real coup in the coming seasons.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Who do you think could be the man to solve Tottenham’s striker problems? Let me know on Twitter.

If Kieron Dyer can stay fit he would be an excellent attribute for Queens Park Rangers aiding them to sustain their place in the Premier League however his previous history suggests that he remains a liability with his injury woes. The injury prone 33 year old only played seven minutes of competitive football for Queens Park Rangers last season, 4 minutes of which were spent on the floor. The Anfield Cat made more of an appearance than that. His previous record for West Ham amplifies what a liability Dyer can be to a club. Dyer’s 4 years at The Hammers was spent mostly in the treatment room as he only made 15 league appearances, never completing a whole 90 minutes of football.

What more does Dyer have to offer to the Premier League? Is it really worth another 12 month contract for him to spend off the pitch?

The real question is, once fit, does he still play at the standards he did 5 years ago when he was appointed for Steve McClaren’s England starting line up for a friendly against Spain in 2007. Due to all his injuries no one has witnessed his true football playing ability in the last 5 years however Mark Hughes must see something in the training ground.

This new 12 month contract appointed to Kieron Dyer has come to a shock to many QPR fans, I’m sure they’re all scratching their heads. But many have faith in Hughes and his future at the club and hopefully Kieron Dyer will prove us all wrong.

Were the club right to offer Kieron Dyer a new deal? Tweet me @gmileham1