Sun Jihai can now look forward to tackling life in the Championship

But the back pages 体育版 of Britain's newspapers are still full of football gossip 足球传闻, with a lot of speculation 推测 about the transfer market 转会市场.

Whilst big names such as Drogba, Crouch, Lampard and Adebayor are all being linked with transfers, most attention has been focused on the future of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo.

undefined undefinedWill the highly-rated 受到高度评价的 winger jump ship 跳槽 and join Real Madrid for an estimated fee of over £60m (810m yuan), a move Ronaldo has described several times as his "dream"?

Or will he stay put 留守不动, something Real president Ramon Calderon now says is more likely due to United's "reluctance 不情愿的 to sell"?

Another question is whether Chelsea will land 落实；获得 this year's World Footballer of the Year: the Brazilian player Kaka.

Although Chelsea have played down rumours 低调处理传闻 that they are looking for Kaka, AC Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliano says Chelsea have made an "astronomical offer" which is thought to be in the region of 大约 £50m (675m yuan).

To describe an amount of money as astronomical 天文数字的，巨大的 is to say it is very, very large, somewhat like the Chinese expression 天文数字.

A lot of this year's transfer activity is to do with new managers who are eager to make their mark 名载史册 at new clubs.

One of these new managers is Mark Hughes, who replaced Sven Goran Eriksson at Manchester City at the end of last season.

He has already begun ringing the changes 呼唤变动, releasing ten players including the 30-year-old China international Sun Jihai. The versatile 多才多艺的 Chinese player, who had spent six years with Manchester City, now joins Championship side Sheffield United.

The Blades (刀刃：谢菲尔德联足球俱乐部的昵称) are a club who will not be unfamiliar to Chinese football fans.

Chinese midfielder Li Tie also spent time with the club, who own China Super League side Chengdu Blades.

Although Sun Jihai has moved down a division, Sheffield United are hungry for promotion 渴望升级 to the Premiership next year.

Manager Kevin Blackwell says that promotion is "on the cards". By this he means there is a good possibility it will happen. He also hoped to "hit the ground running", which means he hopes to start the season playing very well, rather than taking a long time to start playing well together.

Whatever happens, Sun Jihai can now look forward to meeting his China international team mate 队友 Zheng Zhi on the pitch again, this time as an opponent. Zheng Zhi plays for Championship side Charlton Athletic, for whom he scored seven goals last season.

Before the new season kicks off, Zheng Zhi will find time to captain the Chinese national side at the Beijing Olympics. Charlton manager Alan Pardew said he's sure "Charlton fans will be supporting China when the tournament kicks off."