The Blues have been making fools of themselves all summer in the transfer market, missing out on their three top targets (Kaka, Ribery and Torres), while signing a player (Deco) who is on the wrong side of 30 and unlikely to get any better than he was at Barcelona.

However, where there’s a will and lots of money, there’s a way and Chelsea have plucked a figure out of the air and offered it to Real Madrid in exchange for Robinho, the silky-skilled Brazilian. The Guardian report that Peter Kenyon won’t take no for an answer on this one, but will Real sell up?

Real Madrid were last night considering a bid which sources at the Bernabéu claim is worth €60m (£48m) for the Brazilian playmaker Robinho after the Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon, called Madrid’s sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, to increase a €40m offer first tabled last Friday. However, the La Liga champions are reluctant to lose the 24-year-old Brazilian while their capture of Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo remains uncertain. Robinho, meanwhile, is determined to move to Stamford Bridge in order to work with their new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Perhaps Real’s willingness to sell is a yardstick for how confident the Spanish champions are when it comes to landing Cristiano Ronaldo. Once again, Chelsea and Manchester United indirectly come head-to-head in the transfer market, although with the Portuguese winger’s ankle injury, it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere in a hurry. Will that stop the Blues landing their man, a veritable snip for under £50m!