Premier League Previews: Manchester City Are Your Once And Future Champions

Putting that emotional close to last year’s campaign behind them will be Ferguson’s first task in the new season. It was a year dominated by disappointing headlines around United, something their fans and the rest of us are not particularly used to. Turning things around and striking back at their oil rich neighbors would be a nice way to wash the bad taste out of their mouths.

With that goal in mind, in comes Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa from Dortmund and teenager Nick Powell from Crewe...oh yeah, and some guy named Robin van Persie. The van Persie signing is Ferguson’s crown jewel of the 2012 summer transfer window, the center piece that will presumably catapult United back ahead of their noisy neighbors...but will it? Kagawa is honestly the more interesting signing in terms of what he could bring to the table, but how much he’ll play is a big question mark.

It appears that Fulham’s biggest task will be finding a way to fend off the vultures circling over the club, looking to sign away more of their talented players. If they can manage to keep Dempsey and Dembélé, there’s no reason to worry about Fulham not being able to pull off another consistent season that sees them safely avoid the relegation battle.

I don’t want to sound completely gloomy about Fulham though. They still have a good squad and Martin Jol is a good manager. Even if they lost Dempsey, there’s still enough there to keep Fulham out of the bottom of the table, they just won’t be able to crack the Top 10 without him or a comparable replacement signing. The problem is, time is running out in the transfer window and should Dempsey move on, there’s little time to spend the money.