It is not just the British record £107million fee Todd Boehly has paid for Enzo Fernandez, who has played just 29 times for Benfica, which gives the impression that Chelsea's owner views the transfer market as a gaming exercise.
The Football Manager computer game actually has an amortisation facility — the accounting device that Boehly has used to spread vast transfer payments and avoid breaching spending rules. 'Genius!' states one of the gamers' websites drawing players' attention to it.
That is not the word many would choose to describe the American, who spent more cash on transfers last month than all the clubs of Serie A, the Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1 combined.