Steven Gerrard bleeds red. Er, let me rephrase that since it seems rather obvious. Steven Gerrard, despite his Evertonian youth, is someone who if cut open would have "Liverpool" written inside. And yet, despite lifting the Champions League trophy in May, he now seems set to move away from Anfield. Obviously he's got a taste for this trophy lark but is sane enough to realise that Liverpool are highly unlikely to win anything worthwhile again in the near future. Alright, so there's the odd news story today that perhaps he might stay but given that fans have been burning shirts with his name on and he's stated to the press that he'd like to move elsewhere, it seems unlikely he'll be playing at Anfield for much longer.
So where is he likely to go? Obviously a club like Real Madrid would love to add him to their star-studded squad. But if he were to stay in England, as some have suggested he would like to do, then who are the only club likely to meet the £40m valuation? That would be Roman Abramovich's Chelsea of course, who would be drooling at the thought of Gerrard, Lampard and Makelele in the centre of the park.
With Chelsea's impressive host of talent there are players on the bench who would walk into practically every other Premiership side. But there's one player who currently has to make do with substitute appearances in the League Cup. One player who is already way down the pecking order and who certainly would have to consider his options should Gerrard arrive.
In true Rolf Harris style, have you guessed who it is yet?
There's been so much talk about this particular Russian midfield maestro in the last year that I think it's time to slow down and actually take stock of the situation. Despite all the constant rumours flying about,= there's a few points that need to be taken into consideration.
1) We don't even know if Perrin rates him as a player
2) We've got all of one quote (from "The News", no less) from Peter Storrie that vaguely hinted we might be interested
3) We've got all of one quote from the player himself that vaguely hints he might be interested
3) If he's so keen to play for us, what is he waiting for? If we have made so many bids as claimed and he's as keen as claimed why isn't he training at Eastleigh RIGHT NOW? Why are we being treated as a "backup plan" - we wouldn't accept that attitude from any other player.
Although Smertin is definitely a very good footballer, I think it could be high time to lay this rumour to rest. All last summer it was clear he wasn't coming back and it was a constant grind not being able to get through the day without someone mentioning "The S word". I was just living in hope that we wouldn't have to put up with the same thing again this summer, but as we came towards the end of the season and he made less and less appearances it became clearer that there were going to be some rumblings.
Admittedly most of it is led by "The News" but other papers, websites (er, like this one), messageboards and pub conversations all seem to gravitate towards an opinion on whether he should come back. And for all we know, he isn't even wanted here or couldn't give a flying one about coming back.
I think it's just time to move on and forget this story until he suddenly appears on the Fratton End holding up a shirt and, given this site's record for predictions, I realise that'll probably happen tomorrow. I also realise this will make absolutely no difference to the world at large and in this evening's copy of "The News" there will no doubt be a comment that "Portsmouth have made bids for Damien Francis and Julio Arca, although are still tracking Alexei Smertin..."
Although to be honest I'd be highly disappointed if there wasn't.