THE transfer market has gone mad again.

Teams are splashing ridiculous amounts of money about on players and I think they're taking a huge gamble.

A lot of them are untried and untested in the Premiership and it could backfire on managers if the new additions don't settle in quickly. Then, come the January transfer window, all the money will have been spent and teams will be struggling.

That's where I think Mark Hughes has been clever. I'm sure he could go out and spend big on a player, but he doesn't need to.

He's got a big enough squad and the players who are coming back from injury will be like brand new signings.

Players like Steven Reid, Robbie Savage and Andre Ooijer would cost millions in today's transfer market.

And then, of course if the club is taken over, Mark will have plenty of money to spend in January, a time when he has previously conducted a lot of very good business, particularly last season with Chris Samba and Stephen Warnock being brought to Ewood Park.

Look at the difference in price between the two Dutch lads. Ryan Babel signed for Liverpool for £11.5 million this week and Maceo Rigters was brought to Rovers for just £350,000.

It'll be interesting to see who turns out to be the better buy.

Rovers may not have spent much this summer, but Mark has proved already he can be very shrewd.

Compare what he spent on Benni McCarthy last season to what other clubs spent on strikers and he was definitely the buy of the season.

Hopefully this year there will be another one at Rovers.