Premiership / Dan Fitch / 31 May 2011 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

This summer will see some big names available on a Bosman free transfer, but as Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch explains, these signings aren't without risk and don't come cheap.

Everyone loves a freebie. On Saturday for example, I ordered an extra £6 of entirely unnecessary takeaway food just so I could trigger a clause that would see me receive a free bottle of wine, having spent more than £25. The fact that the wine was always fairly likely to taste like vinegar and that I could have bought a much nicer one for the same money that I squandered on unwanted onion bhajis never came into my calculations.

That's the problem with things which are supposedly 'free' - they nearly always come in tandem with a large catch. It's certainly the case in football, where each summer a number of out-of-contract players flutter their eyelashes at prospective clubs and offer them their services for gratis.

Only they're not really free. The players are either out of contract because they have been plagued with injuries and represent a massive gamble to any club that signs them, or they have let their contract run down to secure a massive deal at a new club.

Yet still clubs are suckered into thinking that they've picked up a bargain and it will be no different this summer, when a bumper crop of Bosman free transfers come onto the market.

Let's start with the players who are available to sign now, but who will probably be in plaster come August. If the likes of Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate had been available on free transfers ten years ago, they would have been inundated with offers from Europe's elite. Instead, they are likely to become best friends with the physio at a team of also-rans.

If they could stay fit for even half a season, this trio have the quality to make a real difference to a club. Whether they will have the desire to accept offers from less than stellar outfits, is another matter. Owen has spoken out about his ambition to stay at Old Trafford. Clearly picking up Champions League runners-up medals for doing nothing is more important to him than playing football.

A safer bet are those wily Premier League stars who have let their contracts wind down. It is rumoured that Aston Villa's Brad Friedel is ready to sign a two year deal at Spurs. At 40 years of age, this isn't a deal without risk for Tottenham, but the American should still prove more reliable than Heurelho Gomes, who they will be able to sell on for a few million. Spurs are [65.0] to win the Premier League next season.

There are a number of players who look set to walk away from relegated clubs. Blackpool's David Vaughan was arguably as influential for them as Charlie Adam and the tenacious midfielder has been linked with Sunderland and Rangers. The likes of Birmingham's Sebastien Larsson and the West Ham's Rob Green and Matthew Upson are also set to return to the Premier League.

For my money though the canniest Bosman signing could come from Germany. Ruud van Nistelrooy will be 35 in July, but he still looks capable of playing in the top flight for another season. Considering that many of his appearances from Hamburg have come from the bench, he still has a pretty good strike rate. The Dutchman allegedly prefers a move to Spain, but English clubs are certain to take interest.

Also available is Miroslav Klose. He's always been more prolific at international than club level, but at 32 he's a whippersnapper compared to Van Nistelrooy. Spurs and Everton are said to be in for him, as are AC Milan and Valencia. Wherever he ends up, what's guaranteed is that he'll be on a fat contract for a couple of years. Nothing is free in this world.