Milan Jovanovic was such a hot property last season that there was talk of £10m offers from such illustrious clubs as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.Now that he has made it clear to Standard Liege that he has no intention of extending his contract beyond its expiry date of June 2010 the scramble is on for their sporting director Dominique d'Onofrio to get something approaching half that fee for the Serbia international in the January transfer window.
The passing of an additional 12 months on his deal means the last thing Liege want to do is to allow Jovanovic to run down his contract and leave for nothing in the summer. Cue an orderly queue forming at the Belgian club.
Among those in line are Birmingham City after manager Alex McLeish admitted this week that he would "love" to have a player of Jovanovic's obvious talents at St Andrew's. McLeish is approaching his second anniversary in charge and such a blue chip signing would be a marvellous signal of intent by new owner Carson Yeung when the January window opens.
With Yeung's promise of £40m to spend on bringing in the kind of players that will help establish the club in the Premier League, Birmingham certainly have the money.
The problem they are going to encounter is persuading players of the calibre of Jovanovic that the newly promoted club is the correct vehicle for them to forward their careers. No one can criticise McLeish and Yeung for thinking big and it is to be encouraged.
For too long under former owners David Sullivan and the Gold brothers Birmingham were happy to tread water in the top flight and avoid relegation every season.
Their unwillingness to invest heavily was a constant source of frustration to former manager Steve Bruce, who felt the club missed an opportunity to force a major shift in power in the second city, when rivals Aston Villa were struggling under David O'Leary.
Investment in the team is not a problem now and signing Jovanovic will not hinge on the words of British agent Barry McIntosh, who claims to have an "exclusive mandate" from Liege to carry out a deal for 3.75m euros. That mandate is supposed to have come from Dominique d'Onofrio, the brother of Luciano d'Onofrio, who just happens to be the vice-president of Liege.
Luciano also used to be one of the most powerful football agents in Belgium and Europe, until he accepted an official role with Liege. His contact book will be bulging with potential suitors for Jovanovic.
If the price for the Serb, who has scored 76 goals in 129 games for Liege has really dropped to less than half his value 12 months ago, Stuttgart, Roma, Real, Bayern, Everton and Villa may all look better prospects for Jovanovic right now.
New money is fine in the Premier League. It is not a vulgar thing.
The problem is, it takes time to use it to establish a club and build a reputation that will appeal to players of such quality.
McLeish, Yeung and Birmingham may have to be patient.
