A break for a few minutes from the World Cup, which is dominating my life, as it does every four summers, to catch up on what else is going on in the world of football.

A few Americans are on the move, or may potentially be on the move in the coming weeks.

The biggest news as of late is that Italian giant AC Milan has serious interest in Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey, and may be looking to buy him in the next few weeks.  Dempsey has been great for Fulham, the fans love him there, and he owes a lot of his personal success to that team, but it will be nearly impossible for him to pass up to opportunity to play for AC Milan – alongside fellow countryman Oguchi Onyewu.

For American players, playing in Europe is always the #1 goal.  For the rest of the World, playing in Europe is nice, but all players really want to play for one of the 10 big European sides; Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Juventus.  Any time anyone has an opportunity to join one of these teams, they have to take it.

For Clint Dempsey, and any American, it’s an even bigger achievement.  If Dempsey can go to Milan, and grab a starting spot, that would surely be yet another sign that American soccer is on the rise.

Landon Donovan is another American who may be on the move.  After his great World Cup, it appears Everton is once again interested in bringing Donovan over, this time permanently.  He played great for them last winter while on loan from LA, and would surely flourish playing a full EPL season with the team.  The only stumbling block is how much LA is going to demand as compensation.  Donovan recently signed a 4 year, $9 million contract with the Galaxy.  It’ll be hard for the Galaxy to hold onto Donovan forever, though, as he surely wants to find a permanent home with a European squad.

Herculez Gomez went from MLS flame out to Mexican scoring champion to starting on the US World Cup team in less than 6 months time.  His wild ride continues, as he joins fellow American Jose Francisco Torres on Pachuca of the Mexican First Division for the upcoming season.

In international news, the biggest seems to be the statement by Werder Bremen head man Klaus Ollofs that the team has absolutely no interest in letting Mesut Ozil leave before his contract expires after 2011.  That’s a mighty statement to make now, and it’s certainly easy to stand by in the short-term, but we’ll see how much the team sticks to its guns when one of the big European sides offers up $20 or $30 million to the team for Ozil’s rights.  A team like Werder Bremen can’t afford to pass up an offer like that.  For now, it appears Ozil will stay on his tiny club, at least until the next transfer period, but I have a hard time imagining him playing this entire season for the German team.

Another young star from this year’s World Cup is Javier Hernandez, of Mexico, who right before the World Cup signed on with Manchester United.  It appears he will one day be a star at Old Trafford, but I have a hard time imagining this is the year it happens.  Look for Hernandez to be loaned out for at least a season, so that he can get playing time as opposed to sitting on the Man U bench.  Right now, it appears Valencia of La Liga may be the best fit, as they’ve recently sold off their two starting strikers.

Two other players who are likely to be on the move are Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas and Inter’s 20 year old ace Mario Balotelli.  Fabregas has been liked to Barcelona a lot recently, but now it appears the two may be switching teams.  Fabregas would be lethal on Inter, and Balotelli is poised to become one of the mega stars of the world.  Some people have gone as far as calling him the next Cristiano Ronaldo.  Hopefully he has better balance.

A few other headlines worth mentioning:

• The LA Galaxy are interesting in bringing in 30 year old superstar Ronaldinho from AC Milan.  Milan has money issues right now, as it is spending more than it is selling, and will have to move someone big soon.  It seems unlikely they’ll move Ronaldinho, but this is an interesting situation to watch.
• Brazilian Striker Luis Fabiano appears to be on the move to either Manchester United or AC Milan, as he has stated his lack of interest in remaining with Sevilla.
• Barcelona has given Thierry Henry permission to seek a move, saying they’ll allow the former superstar to move before his contract expires next year.  This opens the door for his move to the MLS to be completed in the next few weeks.
• My how the mighty have fallen.  Luca Toni has signed on with lowly Genoa of Serie A while Michael Ballack just inked a two year deal with Bayer Leverkusen of the Bundesliga after Chelsea refused to resign the midfielder.
• 23 year old Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez has said all along he wants to play out his contract at Dutch club Ajax, where he scored 35 goals last season.  Now, after having a great World Cup, it appears his stance has changed, and if Man U, Barcelona, Inter, or a few other clubs came calling, he’d listen.  Suarez was quoted after Tuesday’s loss as saying “The first thing I want to do after the World Cup is go on a holiday. After that, we’ll have to wait and see what will happen on the transfer market,” by De Volkskrant.  “I think that the people at Ajax all know that it will be very difficult for them to hold on to me. I’ve played a good World Cup and is it a known fact that this results in interest from bigger clubs. You never know what happens though.”

Should be an interesting few weeks.  And, oh yeah, Spain vs. Holland on Sunday should be a classic!