Champions League qualification officially states that Manchester City have a seat on European football’s head table; and whereas before Kaka turned down a move in favour of Real Madrid, we should now expect even more serious money attracting some of the very best players in the world.  Strange then, that Carlos Tevez should now want to make public his desire to move to Italy in the summer. A great player yes, but in my opinion, not world class.

So Roberto Mancini has achieved the goal of Abu Dhabi club owners who expected nothing less than a top four finish.  But even though Manchester City may also win the FA Cup this Saturday, I believe if Jose Mourinho showed any interest in a move to the sky blue side of Manchester, Mancini would be sacked.

Following Real Madrid’s public disapproval of Mourinho’s behaviour in recent matches with Barcelona, it has made it more likely that Jose Mourinho may return to the Premier League sooner rather than later.  He has already stated his next job will be in England.  Such a statement would sound bold coming from anyone else, but with Jose Mourinho’s reputation and past record there will always be interest for those willing to pay his price.

Manchester City’s victory last night means FA Cup finalists Stoke City will automatically play in the Europa League next season.  While Spurs may miss out on European football altogether as they drop to sixth position, two points behind Liverpool who they play on Sunday at Anfield.

Harry Redknapp has already said he will be selling a few on before buying better quality players this summer and said that might not be enough to finish in the top four next season.  I agree that Spurs are going to need to strengthen their squad if they are going to mount a serious challenge next season.  And if Kenny Dalglish continues to make Liverpool tick and is given money to spend in the summer, who’s to count them out actually winning the Premiership next season.

Liverpool have made a dramatic recovery since King Kenny took over from Roy Hodgson; and on Monday night thrashed an in-form Fulham team 5-2 at Craven Cottage to move above Spurs for the first time this season.

With two games remaining, the Premier League title race may be all but over, but Liverpool v Tottenham on Sunday promises to be another cracking match in what is by far the most exciting Premier League season I can remember.

The likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi failed to deliver on the biggest stage of all, though it’s worth noting the close attention Messi received that stopped him and that Torres was not match fit.  France, Italy and England above all other nations had a shocking World Cup and should all learn from Germany who gambled with a more youthful team.

The final was not a goal fest but I personally really enjoyed it.  Yes 4-3 would have been more exciting but apart from Holland’s bully-boy tactics, the match was brimming with attacking world class talent. Snyder, Robben and Van Persie for the Netherlands and Iniesta, Xavi and Villa for Spain.  The match was like a game of chess, each team attempting to outwit the opponent and building up play rather than toe-punting the ball around like headless English chickens.

As with each major football tournament where some players fail to deliver, a star or two are born.  Mezut Ouzil who apparently was courted by Manchester United before he signed to German club Werder Bremen in 2008 was as good as anyone in the 2010 World Cup and was unheard of outside Germany before the tournament began.  They will be lucky to hold on to him and resist the big money offers.  By contrast, David Villa had been touted as a world class striker for the past few seasons but he chose the World Cup stage to deliver.  No doubt Barcelona was very pleased to complete the signing before he scored five goals to share the Golden Boot.

I was surprised to see both Argentina and Brazil lose to Germany and Holland respectively at the quarter-final stage and am sure both countries will do better and be led by new managers at the next World Cup which is to be held in Brazil.

So by way of a 2010 South Africa World Cup roundup, here are a few awards:

My favourite goal of the World Cup was Giovanni Van Bronckhorst long range thunderbolt for Holland against Uruguay.

Best players of the tournament: David Villa, Diego Forlan, Wes Snyder, Mezut Ouzil & Andres Iniesta

Most surprising team performance: Ghana & Germany

Most underused commentary: “that was a great touch by Wayne Rooney”

Best team: Spain

And finally, here’s my 2010 World Cup XI

Goalkeeper: Castillas (Spain)

Defenders: Lahm (Germany), Lucio (Brazil), Puyol (Spain), Van Bronckhorst (Holland)

Midfield: Van Bommel (Holland), Ouzil (Germany), Iniesta (Spain), Snyder (Holland)

Forwards: Villa (Spain), Suarez (Uruguay), Robben (Holland)

Florentino Perez and Jorge Valdano should surely know that this man will not lie down and be told who, or indeed how to play. He is his own man, much to the chagrin of Roman Abramovic, whose own ego couldn’t allow Mourinho to dictate matters at the club Roman so lovingly bought with his ‘dirty money’.

Moratti in a sense was the perfect owner for Mourinho, a powerful, yet understanding owner who knew when to open his wallet to keep Jose happy, and knew not to tamper in personnel issues on the pitch; are you listening Berlusconi, concentrate on embarrassing your people and leave Milan alone.

Alas the Italian press, combined with Mourinho’s satisfaction at having done all he can do at Inter Milan, means Mourinho will go from a situation where the club, owner, players and supporters loved him; to a situation where only the supporters and some players will love him.

As far as Perez sitting back while Jose does his thing, don’t think for one second Marca won’t get on his back and wedge a rod between manager and board. This is the same paper who forced the removal of Manuel Pellegrini, even though Real Madrid achieved a record number of goals and points this season.

Only Barcelona’s near perfect performances kept them from winning La Liga. They had decided long ago that Pellegrini should go, and they didn’t want to lose face by changing their minds. Marca are so narrow minded, that even if Real had brought home the league; they would have still called for his head, and Perez is too weak not to listen to the press.

But it gets worse, players like Cristiano Ronaldo don’t do defensive football, and Mourinho had Samuel Eto’o tracking back all the way through the Champions League final; and all season for that matter. Here is a proven goal scorer who has been relegated to a defensive wide forward playing under Mourinho. Sure he did it, but can you see Ronaldo and Kaka chasing down opposition full backs in their own half?  Come to that, as football fans, do we want them to?

These are gifted attacking players who provide magic and get you goals, but not for Mourinho.

Things are about to get very tense in the Madrid, and given that I don’t see Portugal going far in the World Cup this summer, there is going to be one unhappy Real Madrid number 9 come the start of the season, and if Mourinho doesn’t manage things just right, one of them will have to go; and given Real Madrid’s record with managers, Jose Mourinho might find himself back in the English Premiership sooner, rather than later.

But why is it that when Man City offered £100 million for Kaka, the majority of English football pundits, commentators and overpaid ex-footballers shook their heads and frowned at the idea that Manchester City were prepared to pay such a large amount of money for any one player.  But £80 million for Cristiano Ronaldo between Real Madrid and Manchester United has not received the same level of criticism?

I believe there are equal measures of hypocracy and snobbery.  It’s okay for Real Madrid and Manchester United  because they are two of the biggest clubs in the world.  As Alex Ferguson likes to tell the media when playing mind games against Chelsea, ‘Manchester United has history!’

And like when Roman Abramovich made Chelsea the richest club in the world with his own money, the Manchester City owner and member of the Arab Abu Dhabi royal family, 38 year-old Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has unfairly been discrimated against as the richest clubs in the world have always paid large sums of money to prize the best players away from other teams.  It’s just not fair that someone can bully Ferguson and Manchester United around, is it?

There is an obvious elitist factor at play. Furthermore, surely it’s more acceptable for Manchester City and Chelsea to pay large sums of money for top players in this current climate than it is the likes of Manchester United.  Afterall, the Glazer Family bought Man United with borrowed money and have saddled that great club with allegedly £511 million of debt.  The sale of Ronaldo will not even pay 50% of this year’s interest repayment on Manchester United’s loans which allegedly stands at £45.5 million.

Kaka is one of the best players in the world.  But £56 million paid to AC Milan for the young Brazilian midfield playmaker, compared to £80 million for Ronaldo,  is a bargain.  Bayern Munich’s Frank Ribery and Liverpool’s Xavi Alonso were also on Florentino Perez’s wishlist at a recent press conference.  Those players have also been courted by Chelsea and Arsenal, respectively.

This summer’s transfer market has just got exciting.  Real Madrid have the money and the history to buy more top players, while Manchester City are going to find it more difficult to persuade the best players in the world to join them unless they are pushing 30 and are content with a massive weekly pay check and no European medals next season.

Manchester United will I assume look to replace Cristiano Ronaldo, maybe with someone like Frank Ribery; and if Carlos Tevez leaves Old Trafford they will most definitely need another striker to play alongside Wayne Rooney.  How about Stewart Downing and Jermain Defoe?

Arsenal need to strengthen their squad if they are prepared to put up a reasonable fight to stay in the ‘big four’ and Chelsea will have offered Carlo Ancelotti a reasonable amount of money to rebuild an aging team, if they are to mount a serious challenge for the Premiership or the Champions League.

Exciting times ahead this summer.

Perez arrived with his first aquisition, fans favourite Zinedine Zidane as an advisor and immediately set about installing a new coach to replace the departing Juande Ramos at the club. Villareal coach Manuel Pelligrini who is the longest serving coach in Spain’s top flight having spent the previous five seasons with the ‘Yellow Submarines’ has been announced as Ramos’s replacement.

The 55 year old Chilean will cost Real Madrid around 4million euros in compensation to Villareal.

Madrid have been a poor second best to Barcelona this season, the Catalan giants winning trophies on three fronts, while last seasons La Liga champions have struggled to find their game.  Perez is anxious to return Real Madrid to their previous glory and has promised fans that he will move heaven and earth to bring the worlds best players to the Bernabeu once again.

On Spanish TV last night, Perez spoke about his love of Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Frank Ribery and of course Cristiano Ronaldo, but was also realistic enough to suggest that Madrid would need to sell up to ten of their squad to enable them to bring in six new players.

Surprisingly the new Real Madrid President added that despite his love of Ronaldo who would be a ‘model signing’, he is unaware of any contractual agreement having been made by the player and former president of the club.

Manchester City are having a mid-winter break and training in Tenerife. An official statement from the club only goes as far as to say Robinho is not at the training ground anymore.

Anyone suggesting Robinho hasn’t made an impact at Man City and on this season’s Premiership, and was a waste of money, should look at the Premier League Top Scorers.  Even though Manchester City have not lived up to pre-season expectations, Robinho has scored 11 goals, only three behind top scorer Nicolas Anelka.

I haven’t heard any reasons given for Robinho flying back to Brazil, but I am assuming it has much to do with the amounts of money being offered in wages to attract Kaka to Man City.  And there lies the main difference between the two highly talented Brazilian footballers.

Furthermore, I’m still convinced there are two teams being assembled at Man City, a ‘dream team‘ and a less glamorous list of players Mark Hughes requires to stamp his authority on the dysfunctional team he has inherited.  A blend would be the best solution.  But what Mark Hughes and Manchester City may need to do now is replace two Brazilians, not one!

The January transfer window is fast running out, and so far Manchester City’s forages into the transfer market have not lived up to expectations.  Yesterday Craig Bellamy joined from West Ham for around £14 million.  He joins big money movers Wayne Bridge from Chelsea (£10 million) and Holland international midfielder Nigel de Jong from Hamburg for around £13 million.

What Man City must still be looking for is to bring some proven quality in the way of a goalkeeper, several defenders and a defensive midfielder.  And with West Ham joining Blackburn and Newcastle in stating they are unwilling to sell anymore of their top players in the January transfer window, I am wondering who Mark Hughes and and the Manchester City ‘dream teamers’ are calling now!

In terms of a cash value, City are reported to have put a figure of £100m on the Brazilian playmaker, with a weekly wage of £500,000 being suggested almost unanimously.

So far in the January transfer window Manchester City have met with resistance from the clubs with whom they have approached for signings and frankly I don’t see this one going anywhere either.

Mark Hughes determination to bring Roque Santa Cruz from his old club Blackburn has been met with an equal determination from their Lancashire neighbours, likewise with West Ham who have resisted approaches for Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker from City.

But this latest move is the big one, Kaka has been out of sorts over the past season and particularly since the arrival of Ronaldinho at Milan. Having landed fellow Brazilian Robinho in the summer Manchester City certainly showed their intent, but so far this season the team has gone backwards and are more likely to be fighting against relegation come the end of the season than clinching a place in the top six.

And therein lies the problem, we would all love to see a player of Kaka’s quality joining the premier league and it is fair to say that he is far from past his best, given a key role in any club I am sure Kaka would really shine. His signing would surely make other players who are equally as hungry for success as they are for a big wage packet, keen to join him there.

But City need to sell themselves to the Brazilian star and so far that is unlikely to happen. Kaka’s agent has suggested that the player would never join Manchester City just for the money and cites the Robinho transfer as a case in point.

“He would never do something like Robinho, who, just to earn more, contented himself with a solution that was not a winning one.” If that is true then the current chances of a move from Milan to Manchester regardless of cash, appear very slim indeed.

Shevchenko’s return to Milan brings to an end a frustrating couple of years for the player who was once considered to be the best striker in the world.

His arrival at Chelsea followed a disappointing World Cup for Shevchenko who was making a comeback from injury at the time and he never regained the pace or fitness that made him such a feared striker in Serie A.

While Chelsea are happy to write off the massive fee they paid for Shevchenko they will at least save having to pay the huge salary that tempted the player to the Premier league. But also the move could be considered by the more cynical as a sweetener for the Brazilian playmaker Kaka, who has been a serious Chelsea target this summer, particularly since the arrival of Felipe Scolari.

Rumours of a transfer record breaking move for Kaka have been doing the rounds for the last couple of months and have been fuelled by the player admitting that he would relish a move to the Premier league.

It seems more likely that fellow Brazilian Robinho will join Chelsea from Real Madrid at this stage, but what an exciting prospect Kaka and Robinho would be for the premier league, that already boasts the likes of world class players Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres.

It seems the Italian club believe that they will sign Barcelona’s out of salts Ronaldinho for just £22million, making Kaka surplus to requirements, should a fool and his money be interested.

Chelsea could offer Shevchenko as a sweetener, which is the only way I could imagine anything happening, and even then they would take a £30million loss, because I don’t see Milan expecting to pay a transfer fee, if they are only prepared to pay the player on a performance related wage as reported. Now why didn’t Chelsea think of that?

The other mitigating circumstance in Chelsea’s favour, according to the Mirror’s report is that AC Milan are in serious danger of missing out on Champions League qualification  and the superstar play-maker isn’t going to settle for UEFA cup football, if that happens.