IT SOMETIMES seems that if you blink these days, you miss the close season. But hey, who's complaining? If this campaign is anything like the last, we should be in for a real treat over the months ahead.

Plenty of new talent has been bought by clubs looking to jockey themselves into position for a title challenge, but despite all the new signings by clubs with big ambitions, it is still difficult to see anyone from outside of last season's top three sides having the sort of strength in depth required to lift the Premiership trophy.

Blackburn's decision not to build on the team that won the league has come back to haunt them with the departure of Shearer and they can be easily discounted.

Arsenal have started to buy now, but deciding they needed to change their manager less than a week before the season starts is hardly the way to go about mounting a serious championship campaign.

Aston Villa, who looked so good through so much of last season, still ended up 19 points behind Manchester United and nothing much, even Wednesday's purchase of Sasa Curcic, has happened during the summer to suggest that Brian Little has done anything to bridge that gap.

That leaves last year's top three looking likely to be this year's top three. Only the order they finish in is to be battled over.

Having finished third three months ago, Liverpool had the most ground to make up over the summer and I have to admit that I'm far from convinced that Roy Evans has done it with the signing of Patrik Berger.

Liverpool's main problem last season was the rather tame approach of their midfield. While Berger is undoubtedly a nice player, with a sweet left foot, there is some doubt whether he can inject the sense of urgency into his new club's midfield that is so desperately required.

In just about every department Liverpool are now strong enough to challenge their rivals, but for a team able to boast the attacking skills of Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Stan Collymore, they have a tendency to over play it a bit in the centre of the field. The result is that teams can see that if they get players back and allow Liverpool to play in front of them, they can prevent Evans's side from achieving any real penetration.

While all the talk has been of buying new players, the club may actually have the solution to the problem within their ranks at the moment. However, the injury that appears likely to keep Rob Jones sidelined for at least a month will further delay any attempt by Evans to move Jason McAteer into the middle of the field where he is likely to thrive.

The club are actively seeking to bring Steve Staunton back to Anfield at the moment, though. If they succeed in doing that, then Jones's return to fitness would allow their manager the sort of flexibility that could prove to be invaluable over the months ahead.

For Newcastle, the arrival of Alan Shearer will clearly be a boost, but given that goal scoring hasn't been a problem for the club so far, possibly not that great a one. He should certainly score goals for his new side, but Kevin Keegan is now so weighed down with attacking skill that it tends to dictate a great deal of his team selection. Their vulnerability on the road looks likely to remain a stumbling block.

If Keegan goes through with playing Les Ferdinand up front with Shearer, then they will have to play with wide men and that should mean that Keith Gillespie will be back in the frame with David Ginola also playing. Faustino Asprilla and Peter Beardsley seem destined for the periphery of the first team.

Asprilla, though, may fit in more comfortably with Shearer than he did with Ferdinand last year. Shearer's stronger running and better all round game could allow the luxury of the Colombian's unpredictability. It will be interesting to see how Keegan proceeds when things settle down over the next few weeks.

It is slightly surprising that Newcastle didn't add to the strength of their defence for this year but, in fairness, that might not be necessary if the players that are there at present begin to think a little more defensively when the other team is in possession. Last season they were, and I really hate to say this, just too positive away from home. At times their approach was simply naive.

They failed to capitalise on their strength in St James' Park by dropping points in games that they should have won on the road. On several key occasions, Alex Ferguson's team won matches they didn't deserve to take a point from. Unless Newcastle start to emulate their rivals in that regard, they can hope for no better fortune.

Which leads us on to United. With so many young stars coming through over the past couple of years, Ferguson has been in an enviable position at Old Trafford. He could afford to sit back and reinforce his first team panel with new faces from within the club, while waiting for the players he really felt would fit in to become available. Now, when his club are already champions, he has gone out and spent.

Insofar as his five signings are foreign, he has taken something of a risk because there is always the added chance with players facing such a major upheaval that they will fail to settle. However, all seem capable, over time, of establishing themselves in the first team.

Karei Poborsky will probably be the only one of the new arrivals to make an immediate impact, but the arrival of all five has further underlined a situation in which, in every position you can think of, Ferguson has marvellous competition for places. The side's European campaign will be a major distraction. They really must do well this year if they are going to ever justify their claims to be a side of genuine class, but with two full teams of quality players at his disposal now, as well as the scrapping of the foreign players rule, Ferguson may finally have got himself into the position that he has been striving for over the past few years.

At the other end of the table there seems to be little need to look beyond the new arrivals from Division One for relegation candidates, although the likes of Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and even Wimbledon (once again) are likely to find the season a battle.