All's fair...

According to reports, Liverpool boss Raffa Benitez has been keen on talented Benfica winger Simao Sabrosa for some time. In fact rumour has it that last summer he came very near to getting his man with an offer of around £10 million.

But that was then. Now the fact that the price has shot up to £15 million is the least of Raffa’s worries. To begin with, the Reds are drawn against Benfica in the Champions League, with the ties scheduled for February and March, by which time the transfer window will be firmly closed. Worse still, there is the spectacle of rouble-rich Chelsea on the horizon, and the word is that Jose Mourinho has entered the bidding.

Now that is extremely ominous for Liverpool. Partly because as a Portuguese, Jose will presumably have the same kind of rapport with Sabrosa that Raffa has with Spanish players. Partly because Benfica will be reluctant to weaken their side by selling to a club they are about to face in the key stage of a major competition. Partly because Chelsea, as everyone knows, have enough pocket money to outbid any rival.

But the worst bit of all is this. Chelsea have redefined the way the transfer market can be operated. In the good old days it was simple. You entered the market in order to strengthen your team – in other words, you bought for positive reasons. Now unfortunately Chelsea have introduced a new, negative, sinister dimension – you buy a player not so much because you want him or need him but in order to prevent your rivals from having him. Who knows, in time, this might even be dubbed by the cynics ‘The Wright-Phillips Manoeuvre’.

Right now, some of those cynics are even predicting that Chelsea are going to sign Sabrosa and instead of parking him on a bench, they’ll loan him back to Benfica. Just in time, they hope, to help the Portuguese side beat Liverpool.

How’s that for a spite of patriotism!