Poor old Harry Redknapp. The resident cockney geezer of English football is none too fond of his Del Boy facade and there seems to be nothing he can do about it. That tag of (whisper it) wheeler dealer will follow him around long after he has left the Premier League and no matter how many times he complains to the media, it has well and truly stuck.
However, the real king of Premier League wheeler dealers stays far away from the markets of Peckham. Roman Abramovich and his cohort of executives have built a model of football economics which should interest people much more than Harry leaning out of his car window and having a chat.
Since Abramovich's takeover in 2003, Chelsea have hoovered up talent from around the world like they were purchasing commodities on the stock market. Granted, Chelsea are not the only club to adopt this strategy, but they're are undoubtedly the most aggressive. And while no one is going to shed a tear for the Marko Marins of this world, the same can't be said for the young players who are offered the world but soon find themselves on the scrapheap.
The Chelsea model has been to identify young talent, purchase them a negligible cost and put them into the reserve system. If they prosper there, the next step is to find a suitable loan club. If they once again succeed, they can then be sold on at a profit with the money pumped back in to the first team squad to circumvent Financial Fair Play. And now it seems that Jack Grealish, could be the next lucky individual on the list.
Now before we go any further, let's just say that the link between Grealish and Chelsea smells suspiciously like an agent cooking up a storm to grease his client's contract negotiations. But, just in case this is a genuine story, let's hope Jack takes a long hard look at the well worn path he could be about to embark upon.
Of all the players who have been pumped through the Chelsea system in the past decade, it's quite possible that only Thibaut Courtois has made a lasting impression on the first team, if it's possible to say that after three league games. Nemanja Matic has taken the long way around so even the most ardent Chelsea fan could not claim him, and it seems that Ryan Bertrand's time has come and gone.
Players like Mikel, Hazard and Oscar may have been purchased young but their cost completely negates any possibility that they were being signed as an investment. Instead you have to look at someone like Patrick Bamford to see a near perfect mirror for Grealish.
Having made a name for himself at Nottingham Forest, Bamford earned his big move to Chelsea in 2012. Unlike Grealish, he had already switched his international allegiance from Ireland to England and after a couple of months on the outskirts of the first team, Bamford was shipped out on loan to MK Dons where he impressed enough to earn a second loan, this time to Derby.
Bamford acquitted himself well in the Championship and returned to Chelsea this summer, seemingly ready to challenge for a place among Jose Mourinho's strikers. Diego Costa had been brought in but apart from Fernando Torres and fellow cash cow Romelu Lukaku, the path to the first team seemed relatively clear for Bamford. However, instead of allowing him a taste of Premier League action, Mourinho decided to bring back an ageing Didier Drogba.
Bamford is certainly not the only player in this situation. Christian Atsu, Thorgan Hazard, Islam Feruz, Tomas Kalas and Lucas Piazon (below) are just five of 26 players currently on loan from Chelsea. If you discount Fernando Torres, you could make the case that every one of those other 25 players are akin to livestock, ready to be sold at a profit.
Nathaniel Chalobah might return if he impresses at Burnley while Bertrand Traoré is highly spoken of by Mourinho but even at that, it is asking a lot for two of those 25 players to make their mark at Stamford Bridge. Then you have Grealish and the question that must be asked is, what does he have that all those other players don't?
The word is that Grealish has been offered a four year deal at Villa Park and if he has any sense at all he will surely sign on and learn everything he can by actually experiencing Premier League football. Whether or not he chooses to play for Ireland is secondary in all this. If he does move to Chelsea, Grealish would be behind Fabregas, Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Schurrle and Salah in a battle for a creative midfield role.
Right now, that's a battle that he is certainly going to lose. The only place for him is on the loan list and like some kind of footballing purgatory, the past few years have shown how that is a very uneven path to success.
