Rafael Benitez is unlikely to take any advice from José Mourinho, particularly after, with wonderful cattiness, the Inter Milan manager sought to ratchet up the pressure on his former rival this weekend by saying that Liverpool should win the Premier League, but there is one subject on which the Spaniard would be well advised to listen. As Mourinho discovered to his cost at Chelsea, those who play with matches eventually get burnt.

BenÍtez and Mourinho have much in common as brilliant strategists, but the Liverpool manager shows little sign of learning from the Portuguese’s mistakes. Just like Mourinho, who threatened to quit as Chelsea manager three times before Roman Abramovich denied him the opportunity by sacking him on the spot, BenÍtez’s appetite for confrontation seems limitless as he considered resigning after the club’s failure to sign Gareth Barry.

BenÍtez has employed similar tactics in the past, flirting openly with other clubs, and it is surely only a matter of time before Liverpool call his bluff. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum may be planning to recruit his own man if he buys the club and will certainly be aware that BenÍtez can be difficult to work with. As Luiz Felipe Scolari is showing at Stamford Bridge, alternatives are always there.

­ It has been a frequent complaint at Chelsea in the Abramovich era that they are forced to pay the tourist price – roughly double the going rate – in the transfer market, yet they happily submit to such staggering inflation when resigning their own players.

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For all Frank Lampard’s undoubted talent, commitment and goal-getting ability, no other club in the world would have given a five-year contract worth £33 million to a player after his 30th birthday.

It would be easy to point the finger at Peter Kenyon, who when it comes to the negotiating table makes Peter Ridsdale look like Ebenezer Scrooge, though in reality the Lampard saga is just another illustration of the belief that when it comes to Chelsea, normal rules do not apply.

­ Industrial language is often a sign of frustration rather than inarticulacy, which may explain why Arsène Wenger came over all Gordon Ramsay when quizzed about Arsenal’s limited signings. The Frenchman’s claim that he could sign a £30 million player if he wanted may be technically true, as Arsenal’s accounts show cash reserves of £75 million, although that conveniently ignores the fact that most of the world’s leading players would be unwilling to sign for a club with such a rigid wage structure. The move to the Emirates Stadium may end up costing more than the club are prepared to admit.

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