Premier League week 3: Fulham, Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd

Mark Hughes is on the verge of completing the signing of Carlos Salcido, the Mexican full-back, from PSV Eindhoven. The defender, who impressed for El Tri at the World Cup in their run to the second round, has been strongly linked with Liverpool, but it is Fulham who appear closer to capturing Salcido after having a bid accepted by Eindhoven. Hughes insists that the move does not mean Paul Konchesky is on his way out, while the Cottagers 6-0 win over Port Vale on Wednesday was seen as the perfect warm-up for their trip to Blackpool tomorrow. They are unbeaten thus far with two draws to their name.

The sooner the Javier Mascherano saga is settled the better for all concerned. Inter Milan have reportedly made an offer for the Argentine defensive midfielder, but Barcelona remains his most likely destination. Lionel Messi, the Catalans' mercurial playmaker, even spoke out yesterday pleading with Roy Hodgson to "act humanely" and let his compatriot join him at Camp Nou, but the Liverpool boss is standing firm. "The fee we are being offered and the fee we think is the correct fee are very, very far apart. Unless that can be resolved he might be unhappy here for a long time to come," Hodgson said.

City have obviously arrived at football's top table: even Jose Mourinho, the Real Madrid coach, was passing comment on them this week. Aleksandar Kolarov, City's new left-back, was the source of the debate. Mourinho revealed that he had wanted to take the player to the Bernabeu in the summer, but Real could not compete with City's spending power. The "Special One" believes City's financial might has distorted the transfer market and made it tough to compete. All of which seems a little bit rich, coming from the manager of the club who, by a recent calculation, have spent over a billion euros in the past decade.

Sir Alex Ferguson's continued refusal to give interviews to the BBC, one of the English broadcasters showing the Premier League, is expected to cost Manchester United £60,000 (Dh342,685) in fines over the course of the season. The Premier League is implementing new rules which demand each manager talks to the corporation's reporters after their matches. Ferguson, however, has long had a grudge with the BBC, over a documentary about his son Jason's work as an agent. He has already incurred a £1,000 fine for disobeying the new rules, and the punishments will escalate every time he repeats the offence.

* Compiled by Gary Meenaghan and Paul Radley