The only thing that doesn’t make sense, apart from the transfer fees, is Newcastle’s agreement to let Carroll leave. But what these moves mean for the summer transfer window is what is really interesting.

For Newcastle, a star striker is an absolute must. The fact they would already have had to strengthen other areas will now be overshadowed by the search for a new goalscorer. And that assume they now survive in the Premiership. Without Carroll, that is not a certainty. Their ability to attract the best is not what it was, the loss of their best player will not help that, and it’s going to be a difficult summer for them in the transfer market.

Liverpool, on the other hand, will be hoping they’ve resolved the loss of Torres with Carroll. Personally, I feel that’s unlikely but the addition of Luis Suarez is inspired. He had a fantastic World Cup for Uruguay and impressed me. If he can bring that form and talent to the Liverpool side they can look forward to a much brighter second half of the season and beyond. The Anfield side will be looking at other areas of their squad instead, notably the defence, I’m sure.

At Chelsea there will be significant changes I feel. Ancelotti will no doubt look to rebuild his side around new signing Torres and you can expect some significant departures as he does it. I also feel that Abramovich will insist on some sort of return following his £70m outlay on Luiz and the Spanish striker. So who will go?

Drogba, it seems, is past his best and at 32 could be deemed surplus to requirements unless he sparks off a stunning partnership with Torres this season. He would still command a decent fee too. Chelsea’s other striker, Nicolas Anelka is a year younger, which isn’t much and has had a less significant impact on the side in terms of goals. He still offers quality and pace, though, and Ancelotti will have to decide between the two as to which is best to partner Torres.

Or he could choose to jettison them both, raising some £10-£12m in the process and seek out a new, younger model. At the same time, he’ll be looking at his midfield and wondering what to do. Is the current set up of Lampard, Essien, Kalou and Mikel, supported by Malouda and Ramires, the right one? For me, it actually is but Ancelotti may see it differently (especially with the usually indestructible Lampard showing his age in terms of injuries) and a summer transfer wouldn’t be a summer transfer window without Abramovich splashing the cash!

In defence, Chelsea look to have plugged a huge gap with the signing of Luiz so the only possible change there would be at right back. Terry, Alex and Luiz will share the centre back roles, with Terry bowing out to age and letting Chelsea form a potentially superb Luiz/Alex axis, while Ashley Cole will remain first choice left back for the Londoners and England for at least a couple more years. Only Bosingwa, Ivanovic and especially Ferreira (how is he still there?!) need worry.

Could Drogba and / or Anelka end up at Newcastle then, as Chelsea look to forge a strike partnership of similar success with Torres? It’s possible that at least one could end up there.

Outside of these three you can fully expect Manchester United and Arsenal to be as frugal as ever. United NEED a goalkeeper now van der Sar has announced his retirement in May, while Wenger will be confident about his current squad, if not his chances of holding on to Fabregas for yet another season.

Sir Alex Ferguson will find that goalkeeper but his search for replacements for Giggs and Scholes will go on. And on. As the players are themselves. Wenger will need to look for a Fabregas replacement, just in case, and he must surely look to replace the inept (but oddly lucky) Bendtner too. Outside of that, the current top two in the Premier League will consider themselves healthy in player terms.

The only other side who will be looking for real quality to push on to real success is Tottenham. Redknapp stated he was only one or two players from winning the League. I don’t think he’s too wrong with that, but who and what those two players are is a debate for another article!

In the meantime, there’s a title race on that Manchester United look to be cruising through, unbeaten as they are this season while the other challengers slip up around them. But nothing is ever certain, especially in this league. Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle proved that on January 31st.

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Quite simply, both camps have been rocked by poor performances on the pitch and intense media criticism off it, with the players rather than the coaches feeling the full force of the pressure.

For France and Nicolas Anelka it boiled over in the form of a half time rant during the 2-0 defeat to Mexico. Anelka verbally abused coach Raymond Domenech, resulting in his expulsion from the squad and the tournament by the French Football Federation (FFF).

What has followed since has been almost unbelievable. On Sunday the players turned up for training but captain Patrice Evra found himself arguing with fitness coach Robert Duverne. Despite intervention by Domenech, Duverne stormed from the field in anger, discarding his accreditation badge on the way.

The farcical situation continued when Domenech and his staff were made to wait while the players decided what to do. Strike was the decision and they filed back on to the team bus, refusing to train and issued a statement for the now highly embarrassed and undermined Domenech to read out.

It read:

“The French Football Federation did not at any time try to protect the group. They took a decision uniquely based on facts reported by the press. As a consequence, and to show our opposition to the decision taken by officials of the federation [to dismiss Anelka], all the players decided not to take part in today’s training session.”

French team director Jean-Louis Valentin has since resigned, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked his sports minister to meet with Evra, Domenech and the French team and sort the situation out. For the whole country, it is a huge embarrassment.

When you throw in rumour and comments in the media from various parties that it is only the senior players leading this revolt and the younger players are very upset by it all but feel they cannot fight back the disaster that is France’s World Cup campaign looks even worse.

I’m no fan of Raymond Domenech. I find him odd, sometimes clueless and eccentric. But no coach should be undermined by his players, no matter how strongly they feel about his methods and style. And let’s be honest here, it isn’t really about that.

Anelka may well have vented his frustration at the easy target that is his coach but that frustration was borne out of his and his team mate’s poor performances on the field. Domenech’s tactics and team selection can be called into question, of course, but ultimately it’s the players that go out on the field that determine a win or loss and to be blunt France have not done it at this tournament.

Remember, too, they wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Thierry Henry’s hand ball against the Irish in the play offs.

Domenech is a terrible coach, I don’t think there is any doubt in that. But he does not deserve what he has had to endure from his players. The sight of him reading out a statement from the team was embarrassing and demeaned him. Quite why he agreed to do so is beyond me.

At least for him it will all be over today. Incoming coach Laurent Blanc has his work cut out, however.

Similarly poor performances from England have led to Capello coming under pressure from his own as well. The difference here is that it appears to be only one or two players – John Terry and, less publicly, David James. Capello, though, is a far stronger man than Domenech and he has put a stop to any internal mutiny with an iron fist.

While the media were appeased by Frank Lampard’s brilliant press conference yesterday, the team – and Terry – were left in no doubt who is in charge by the Italian. At the same time, Capello let it be known that if a player has something to say he should say it, in private, to the coach.

It was perhaps the best bit of team management Capello has shown since the World Cup began. Certainly his tactics, team selection and substitutions have cast doubt over his ability to coach England’s players in a high pressure environment.

Like the French and any other team, however, it comes down to those who walk out wearing the shirt to play with the passion and desire the supporters demand and England haven’t done it. There will be no sympathy for players who turn on their coach under such circumstances, even if they do question that coach themselves.

With England facing a must-win game on Wednesday any internal rifts would have been disastrous. It seems as though Capello has put paid to any chance of a mutiny and even John Terry has issued an apology via the Daily Mirror for his, at best, ill advised comments during his press conference.

The supporters will now hope that England’s focus is entirely on that game against Slovenia. A victory and performance will consign this sorry episode to history and allow the team, united, to move forward. Let’s hope the press follow suit.

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