Upson's off to Man City and Anton's Coming Home from Sunderland

Now I know that Anton is a controversial character and is not everybody's cup of tea, but I think it would be a very clever move to bring him back, albeit I would worry about a Ferdinand and Tomkins central pairing for now. The best of both worlds, in my opinion, would be to retain Upson and pair him with Anton, using Upson's experience to nurture Ferdinand for a further year until he, in turn, is ready to guide and support Tomkins. They could then form a central defensive partnership for club and country in years to come.

Why Ferdinand? Because, despite his ganga breaks in concentration, Anton is a good defender and has the potential to be so much better - and Steve Clarke is the man to give him the focus that would turn him from good to very good. I fear that Upson is on his way to Unreal City, so the rumours circulating that Lucas has "returned" offer another option - a central defensive pairing of Neill and Ferdinand, using the skipper's experience and Anton's pace to compensate for the loss of Matty. That could work too, especially with Tomkins and one of Collins or Gabbidon in reserve.

The World Cup of 2010 will probably come too early for Anton, but if I was Zola, I would be trying to sell him the dream of being there alongside brother Rio. If anybody can get Anton on the plane, it is Steve Clarke. Anton's stock has gone down since he joined Blunderland and he knows it. The days of Liverpool and Tottenham being interested in him seem to be in the past and he is not a Steve Bruce type of defender so we would pick him up cheaply. It would be a gamble, I accept, but I believe the gamble would pay off. £14m for Upson and £5m for Anton sounds like good business to me.