Secret agent?

It's a truth universally acknowledged - or, at least, within the world of football - that when the Guardian's dirt-digger-in-chief David Conn starts looking in the direction of your club, intent on satiating his appetite for dodgy dealings and regulatory misdemeanours, trouble lies ahead. By turning over a few stones, Conn almost invariably uncovers some truths that the powers that be would prefer remained hidden.

The most recent focus of his attention has been the circumstances behind Rocky's deadline day transfer to Liverpool - and, not surprisingly, he smells a rat. The result is a long and complicated article, painstakingly worded (no doubt at the behest of the paper's lawyers). To summarise, though, Rocky stands accused of bypassing FA regulations prohibiting him from being represented by an agent (his old agent, Peter Harrison, having been unceremoniously given the boot) by instead getting Liverpool to engage someone on his behalf - a conspiracy in which the Scousers willingly colluded to speed the deal through.

It'll be interesting to see the outcome of any formal investigation into the affair, but the allegations have little real bearing on my stance towards the deal. £35m is an enormous sum of money, too much to turn down, and so it's hardly as though we should feel aggrieved if any wrongdoing is proven. Don't get me wrong, I was deeply disappointed to see Rocky leave - but, ultimately, we got what was more than a fair price in return for our most valuable asset and it would be difficult to argue we were swindled, duped or cheated. If that's true of anyone, it's Chelsea, for whom Fernando Torres continues to look worth about £50 rather than £50m...