There’s not much more to be said about the arrival of America’s soccer savior, David Beckham, over the weekend. But while the golden boy of soccer was captivating the public and putting soccer on the nation’s radar, Major League Soccer was also putting itself on display to the rest of the world. Beckham’s debut may have been underwhelming, mostly because of an injured ankle that limited him to 13 minutes on the pitch, but MLS teams came out looking rather well against some international competition.

First it was the MLS All-Stars defeating Scottish Premier League champions Celtic FC 2-0, followed by Real Salt Lake handing Everton, who finished sixth in the English Premier League last season, a 2-0 defeat on Sunday.

Also on Sunday the Chicago Fire tied Celtic 1-1 in another friendly thanks to a goal from newly arrived Mexican star Cuauhtémoc Blanco. Sandwiched in between was Beckham’s debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy and a 1-0 loss to EPL runner-ups Chelsea FC.

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While there is still plenty of time for clubs to find the missing pieces for next season, some of the biggest names in the game have been surprisingly silent. So here come the losers of the summer thus far. Just remember, clubs can just as quickly become a winner or a loser with one move.

1.    Arsenal: The Gunners seem to be sliding backward after a fourth-place finish in the English Premier League last season. The turmoil began when Vice-Chairman David Dein left and soon after Thierry Henry was out the door to Barcelona. Things haven’t gotten any better for Arsenal, which has to hear daily cries from Real Madrid that they will be going after midfield dynamo Cesc Fabregas. With no notable additions, the Gunners are not spending like their rivals in the Premiership’s “Big Four.” So far Arsenal have added three players in goalie Lukasz Fabianski, 24-year-old striker Eduardo da Silva and 24-year-old defender Bacary Sagna. Sagna cost 7 million pounds and the other two fees were not disclosed. Not that spending correlates with winning, but since 2004, Arsenal has actually made a small profit in the transfer market, while Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have been spending heavily. Since 2004, Arsenal has finished second, fourth and fourth in the EPL standings. While Arsene Wenger has shown a shrewd eye for young talent and acquiring it early, the Gunners need some established players to help them maintain their place at the top of the EPL.

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The summer transfer season in Europe makes for great Internet and newspaper rumor fodder. Sadly though, what the transfer season routinely becomes is just talk with no action. And while some big clubs (AC Milan, Juventus, and Arsenal) haven’t splashed the cash around, the influx of big dollars to the English Premier League, along with other world heavyweights spending the dough, has already offered up some sizeable transfers. With a little more than a month left before the transfer window closes here is a breakdown of the top five winners thus far. Please remember these rankings will be updated at the end of the summer to tally the final verdict.

1. Manchester United: The Red Devils didn’t even wait for the transfer window to open before they made their big splash. Bringing in Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich seemed all but done last summer, so the British international’s arrival at Old Trafford was no big surprise. But what took everybody’s breath away was the double coup of Nani and Anderson during a shopping spree in Portugal. The winger and attacking midfielder give Man U plenty of young talent as they learn from veterans Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. With the possible arrival of Carlos Tevez to partner with Wayne Rooney, United is not resting after winning the Premier League.

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SoccerPro.com was recently featured as a case study in Integrated Solutions for Retailers magazine. The article was about how changing software systems can affect your online sales. At first glance most people might find the topic boring. In all fairness, the topic isn’t something you bring up at happy hour. If you are a business owner with an emerging online revenue channel there’s probably a lot you can get from it. Our online soccer store has seen a lot of growth over the past couple years and we are doing everything we can to stay ahead of it. Laurie Pasquerell’s article was definitely a pat on the back for a job well done. There are a lot of ‘indicators’ that things are going well with a business. Most of them are reviewed in financial reports or internal measures to make sure there’s system for quality control. When someone from outside your organization takes a look at what you’re doing and says ‘good job’ that means as much as any internal QC standard. Thanks to ISMRetail.com for taking the time to take a look at what we’re doing at SoccerPro and thanks to all the customers who found our site and decided to shop with SoccerPro.com. We’re sincerely working hard for you.