English Premiership transfer round-up: Mary Hannigan looks at who has been moving where in the run-up to the new season

"Wigan Swoop For French Ace", read the Teletext headline last week, leaving the club's supporters momentarily visualising Trezeguet, Zidane or Henry strutting their stuff at the JJB Stadium in the new season. The French "ace", though, turned out to be 26-year-old defender Pascal Chimbonda, who may yet develop into an ace but, as of now, Teletext could really be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act.

And that's really the problem with the summer silly season for football supporters: hopes repeatedly raised, only to be mercilessly dashed.

Or, in Liverpool's case, hopes raised, dashed, raised, dashed, dashed, raised and finally satisfied.

Gerrard Ponders Anfield Future; Gerrard Staying At Anfield; Wait, Gerrard Possibly Leaving Anfield; Gerrard Chelsea-Bound?; Gerrard Definitely Leaving Anfield; Gerrard Chelsea-Bound; Would You Believe It: Gerrard Staying At Anfield; So, Gerrard's Not Chelsea-Bound.

Compared to this sequence of events, the Champions League final was an emotional doddle for the Liverpool faithful, some of whom burnt their Stevie G shirts when he announced he was leaving, and so were left naked from the waist up when they celebrated his hat-trick at Anfield on Wednesday night.

They've had more to celebrate at Liverpool, notably the signing of Mali midfielder Mohamed Sissoko from Valencia. Rafa Benitez, though, has refused point blank to draw comparisons between Sissoko and Patrick Vieira, for fear of putting pressure on the gifted 20-year-old, saying only: "I saw Vieira when he was 18 years old and he was no better than Sissoko. Sissoko runs more than Vieira and in a couple of years he will be more dynamic than Vieira and a better player."

Sissoko seemed all set for Everton before joining Liverpool, thus becoming approximately the 57th player David Moyes very nearly but didn't quite sign this summer.

Having released several defenders - including Alessandro Pistone, Alan Stubbs and Steve Watson - before receiving all these knock-backs, Everton now face the prospect of starting the season without a back four, which could affect their Champions League campaign in particular.

Wigan are having similar problems: money to spend, but no one to spend it on. When the club won promotion to the Premiership last season, owner Dave Whelan promised a £25-million "war chest" for manager Paul Jewell to strengthen the squad.

The only problem? No one wants to live in Wigan. The low point for the club this summer was, perhaps, when Bury ace Colin Kazim-Richards opted for a move to Brighton instead.

So far their shopping has yielded a £200,000 goalkeeper from Rotherham, a £750,000 defender from Tranmere and that French ace, leaving a heck of a lot of change out of £25 million.

But there's time yet for Jewell to strengthen a squad that looks sturdy enough to stave off relegation until October; as the transfer deadline looms, clubless players will inevitably become less choosy and some aces could very well end up at Wigan, whether they like it or not.

Spurs, too, have been largely frustrated in the transfer market. Stewart Downing, Andy Johnson, Jermaine Jenas and Julio Baptista, among others, have managed to avoid moving to White Hart Lane, but Leeds youngster Aaron Lennon has been pinched from Elland Road for a mere £1 million.

Note: Lennon took a pay cut to leave first-division Leeds to join a Premiership club.

As Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell put it, "That's some indication of how things were handed out here in the past." Indeed.

The big news at Manchester United, of course, is that Alex Ferguson has made his 11th attempt at finding a successor to Peter Schmeichel. Raimond van der Gouw, Mark Bosnich, Fabien Barthez, Massimo Taibi, Paul Rachubka, Andy Goram, Nick Culkin, Ricardo, Roy Carroll and Tim Howard were all given a go before, but, well, you know yourself; now it's Edwin van der Sar's turn.

Park Ji-Sung has also arrived from PSV Eindhoven, but the good news hasn't stopped there: according to Teletext, "Kleberson Threatens To Leave United". If they could just update that to "promises" then United fans would be laughin'.

Arsenal? Well. "I will win back our place at the top of the table by putting into action plans I've been working on. They include recruiting two world-class players," said Arsene Wenger. So far Aleksander Hleb has been signed from Stuttgart (for £10 million), but we're not convinced that selling the club captain to Juventus was part of Wenger's master plan.

Newcastle have, perhaps, had the most successful summer, getting rid of not just Craig Bellamy but Laurent Robert and Patrick Kluivert too. Result!

Bellamy joins Welsh pal Robbie Savage at Blackburn, managed by Welshman Mark Hughes, who is said to want to sign Welshman John Hartson from Celtic. The Blackburn Dragons, then, look set to be quite a combative side in the new season, and not just off the pitch.

Aston Villa's big signing so far has been Kevin Phillips from Southampton, but Ulises de la Cruz, renamed Useless de la Cruz by Villa fans last season, is still on their books.

The Guardian, though, reports that he is flattered with being linked with Chilean club Colo Colo.

And what of Chelsea? Quiet enough so far, only Asier Del Horno from Athletic Bilbao (£8 million) and the return of Hernan Crespo from AC Milan, but Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Essien could be signed up by tea-time.

Most significantly, the club have agreed a deal for a £600,000 bullet-proof team bus that will be fitted with massage tables and a hydrotherapy pool and is similar to the one used by George Bush during his election campaign.

All this talk of money leaves us thinking of poor Harry Redknapp. Chelsea have spent more on their bus than Harry can spend on his squad.

Now that Southampton have been relegated, he has to cut the wage bill and may have no option but to sell Big Peter Crouch to Liverpool, even though he says the 6ft, 8in forward "will be a big player in the first division".

Cutting the wage bill, alas, has proved tricky for Harry. In a tribute to his squad, he said: "I have got players here I can't give away."

Hang on in there, Harry, Wigan might yet have no option but to take them off your hands. (Wigan Swoop For Eight South-Coast Aces.)