Jose Mourinho has long complained that other clubs have an inflated “Chelsea price” whenever the mega-rich Londoners show any interest in signing a player but the boot seems to be on the other foot in the case of Arjen Robben.

The Dutch winger was bought from PSV Eindhoven three years ago for 12 million pounds but seems set to go to Real Madrid for something around the 20 million mark.

Madrid, it seems, are desperate to sign some flair players having bizarrely sacked coach Fabio Capello because the team failed to show enough panache in winning the title.

His replacement Bernd Schuster said this week that “getting Robben here is very important for us. I want a lot of mobility there, similar to what Zidane did.”

Perhaps the Madrid hierarchy have been sent a video of what Robben can do but it must have taken some pretty creative editing to bring him into the same orbit as the French World Cup winner.

In his early days Robben’s delicate dribbling added an extra dimension to Chelsea but as his injuries piled up he became less and less effective.

Last season he managed only three goals and probably around the same total of productive crosses. (Note: There’s an interesting piece about his diminishing influence over at Blue Champions).

He also fell foul of Mourinho over what management consultants would probably call his “attitude to risk”. At times it seemed as if a slight strain was enough to rule him out of matches, while team mates such as John Terry limped into battle held together with string and liniment.

Why the champions of Spain think he is the final piece in the jigsaw to enable them to challenge again for the Champions League, and all in a crowd-warming flamboyant style, remains one of the great mysteries of the summer.

Mitch Phillips, London