When your new club's supporters are too busy chanting for the manager to be sacked to notice your debut in a pre-season friendly, you've got to wonder if you made the right move at the conclusion of your Sporting Lisbon contract.

Phil Babb (Sunderland)

Babb's made his bed, though, and whether he can lie comfortably on it will depend on whether Peter Reid can defy his critics, most of whom tip him to be the first Premiership manager to get the sack this season.

Babb insists he still has international ambitions. One suspects he'll need a damn fine season to convince Mick McCarthy he deserves a recall.

Gary Breen (West Ham United)

After defying his doubters at the World Cup with a series of solid displays (if not in the class of Franco Baresi in his prime, as some had us believe), Breen was, bizarrely enough, linked with moves to Barcelona and Inter Milan.

Neither proved to be; instead, he's ended up at West Ham where he could, eventually, find himself partnering one Anton Ferdinand in defence - yep, the kid brother.

Thomas Butler (Sunderland)

Almost ended up at West Ham, by all accounts, after initially refusing to sign a new deal at Sunderland, but eventually agreed to a three-year deal. Club captain Michael Gray reckons Butler has the potential to be the best left winger in England after the 21-year-old from Tallaght broke into the first team at the end of last season and made a decent impression.

Gary Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur)

Broke his leg five games into last season, just at the point he was beginning to make such an impact in the Spurs defence that the White Hart Lane faithful was prompted to ask: "Sol who?" Will hope that the gods look kindly upon him this time around and allow him the chance to establish himself.

Damien Duff (Blackburn Rovers)

Only one word for the season ahead: "pressure". Duff went to the World Cup regarded as a mildly promising young fella with a half decent left foot, came home as a man, regarded as a blend of Harry Kewell and Ryan Giggs, only better - a left-footed Messiah. So far Blackburn have held on to the player they reckon is worth more than £20 million. Can he cope with the pressure? Very probably.

Robbie Keane (Leeds United)

Said "no thanks" to Sunderland when their £9 million offer was accepted by Leeds and has so far staved off a move to Spurs who, word has it, were offering Darren Anderton as bait for a part-swap deal (albeit an habitually injured bait). As an ITV pundit during the World Cup, Terry Venables showered young Robbie with praise.

We'll see if he's as good as his word and gives him a place in his starting line-up alongside one from Marc Viduka, Robbie Fowler and Alan Smith.

Otherwise, young Robbie might look upon a move to Sunderland or Spurs as the best of a bad job.

Stephen McPhail (Leeds United)

"The days of being a playmaker in the Premiership are gone," said David O'Leary last season when asked why McPhail was getting so few first-team opportunities at Elland Road.

Soon after, the Home Farm old boy was shipped out on loan to Millwall, where he was sent off on his debut. Things, you might say, can only get better. The fact is, though, that O'Leary's departure from Leeds during the summer was, potentially, the biggest break McPhail has had in years, most of which have been blighted by injury. If Venables doesn't give him his chance it'll be time to look elsewhere.

Clinton Morrison (Birmingham City)

He's never lacked self-confidence, to put it mildly; now he has his chance to prove that he's as handy as he's always believed he was. If he succeeds, spare a thought for Spurs - they let him go when he was a schoolboy, reckoned he didn't have what it took. A bit like Stefan Iverson.

John O'Shea (Manchester United)

Rio Ferdinand cost £30 million, O'Shea cost roughly £30 million less, and there are still some at Old Trafford who believe the Waterford man is a better defender. Has been heavily lauded by Alex Ferguson for the past couple of seasons, even described as the "new Paul McGrath".

Now is his chance, although, like the rest of his team-mates, he'll want to put Wednesday night's Champions League qualifier firmly behind him.

Sean Thornton (Sunderland)

If he ever returns to Tranmere's Prenton Park he'll receive as warm a reception as that which greeted Sol Campbell on his "homecoming" to White Hart Lane last season.

If he can put his acrimonious departure from Tranmere behind him, and fulfil even a scrap of the potential he has shown in Brian Kerr's underage teams, he'll do just fine at Sunderland. A bright spark, hard to miss (with his alarming peroxide blonde hair).