FanHouse Premier League

File this one away under something that nobody, I mean nobody, saw coming. Michael Owen was at Manchester United's training ground for medical tests and could sign with the Premier League champions before Friday is over.

It's not too often that a transfer is actually shocking, but if this one goes down it's a Grade A stunner. After losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez it's hard to fathom that Sir Alex Ferguson is chasing down a player who could barely stay on the field during his star-crossed tenure at Newcastle United. In fact, I read somewhere that Ronaldo and Tevez scored more goals the last two seasons than Owen made appearances.

Something that often amazes me is talking to people from England, us here in the Colonies actually tend to have better access to the Premier League matches on television.

After Friday, that access is going to change in some major ways after the Premier League pulled its television package from the troubled Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports. Setanta had a £392 contract to broadcast 46 live matches in the U.K. for the upcoming 2009-10 season, but that is now open to the highest bidder and will be determined by Monday.

At a time when Americans have become somewhat of an endangered species in the England's Premier League, a bit of good news came down Wednesday when it was announced goal keeper Marcus Hahnemann was signed by newly promoted club Wolverhampton.

Hahnemann, who had spells at Fulham and Reading, was released by the Royals last month after a long stint at the club, helping them reach the top flight for the first time in their history due to budgetary concerns.

Waking up Thursday morning my inbox was more packed than usual. The words "Ronaldo" and "Real Madrid" featured prominently in subject lines.

Was I still dreaming? Was the other, original Ronaldo making an audacious comeback?

Rubbing the sand out of my eyes, no, it wasn't a dream. Manchester United had agreed for a world-record transfer fee of £80 million ($131M U.S.) for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, thus ending a multi-year flirtation with the Portuguese forward.

Usually the tune around Liverpool's Anfield home ground is "You'll Never Walk Alone." Pretty soon that might change to "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (Or it's British equivalent.)

Reports from England's Guardian newspaper recently ran down the debts of all 20 Premier League clubs. Liverpool's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett's holding company loss somewhere in the neighborhood of £42 million ($67 million U.S.) last season, despite the club turning a profit.

In perhaps the worst kept secret of the season, Carlo Ancelotti signed on to coach English powerhouse Chelsea on Monday. Ancelotti replaces Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who ended his brief stint in West London after leading the Blues to the FA Cup over the weekend.

Ancelotti becomes the latest coach tasked to win Chelsea -- and specifically owner Roman Abramovich -- the holy grail of European soccer, the Champions League. The Italian is no stranger to winning the trophy with the big ears, winning it twice as a player at AC Milan and twice as a coach of the Rossoneri, as recently as 2007.

As an American fan of the English soccer scene, the FA Cup remains a weird outlier. It has some appeal, yes, but the aura and mystic the well-over 100-year knockout tournament seems to be lost in the Atlantic translation.

In any event, the FA Cup signals the traditional end of the English season and Saturday at London's Wembley Stadium Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 to send short-term coach Guus Hiddink out a winner. It was the fifth FA Cup for Chelsea.

Remember the name Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim? Does it ring a bell? That's the guy that helped broker the deal last year for the Abu Dhabi royal family to purchase Manchester City? Well, he's back in English soccer, Thursday helping a group of investors buy Portsmouth.

The move increases the foreign ownership in the Premier League to eight (or nine if you count Stan Kroenke's stake in Arsenal) and less than a day after Texas-based businessman Ellis Short increased his stake in Sunderland to 100 percent.

Can every living creature on Earth except Americans be wrong about something? Wednesday seemed like a great opportunity to find out.

It was the UEFA Champions League final. That's a soccer match, which means this is a soccer column.

HOLD ON!

Watching the 2009 Champions League final unfold a sense of déjà vu washed over me. In a lot of ways it was like watching the final of Euro 2008 all over again. Instead of Spain defeating Germany 1-0 last June, Wednesday it was Barcelona defeating Manchester United 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.