There is an argument for saying that Chelsea should cash in on John Terry if Manchester City are happy to pay £30million-plus for a centre half who turns 29 this year. But not this summer.

There is a case for saying that Terry's troublesome back would make that sort of fee good value. Central defenders rarely move for big sums and Rio Ferdinand did so with his best years ahead of him, not with mounting concerns about his fitness and movement.

But now is not a time when Chelsea can afford to bank the money from their captain, even though a startling number of supporters are ready to push the ejector button (more than 50 per cent of fans in one newspaper poll said it was time to take the cash).

Too much is shifting at Stamford Bridge for the club to lose a player who is at the heart of the team and the dressing-room spirit. And if you think that is a cliché, how much do you think Florent Malouda or Salomon Kalou do in the cause of team-bonding or camaraderie?

Once again, Chelsea are about to embark on a new managerial regime, one that already has many questions to answer. Can Carlo Ancelotti inspire the squad he has inherited? Will he be able to adjust quickly to the English league?

Chelsea already have one centre half, Ricardo Carvalho, straining to leave. This would be a terrible time to lose their defensive linchpin, a player whose on-field commitment has never been questioned, which is not the case of every well-paid superstar in the Chelsea side.

Indeed, this summer is exactly when Chelsea are not seeking change but to establish some stability after the upheavals of the past couple of years.

Off the field, Frank Arnesen, having trumpeted his growing influence by sitting in the front row of Ancelotti's first press conference (politics at Chelsea even comes down to the seating arrangements), has been confirmed as the club's sporting director to leave Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, wondering whether he is there to make the tea.

Roman Abramovich has invested in an Arnesen/Ancelotti double act, hoping that the club can move on to fresh successes and finally banish the ghost of José Mourinho.

So the Terry issue, with City offering to pay him gazillions and the player clearly tempted by the riches, is something that they really could have done without, whatever the potential transfer fee. This summer is when Chelsea were looking to go again, albeit while spending prudently, rather than lose their longest-serving player.

It is a headache that Chelsea do not need, compounded by Terry's complaints about the failure of the club to spend big money on new players. Privately, though, the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge is entitled to wonder what happened to the days when the board decided the transfer strategy and the players got on with winning matches.

But however irritating the interest from City, and however galling it may be to have to give Terry a pay rise to stay, given that he has three years left on a huge contract, the fact remains that to lose the captain would be a huge blow not only to the team but for morale.

More than anything, it would confirm that Chelsea, once the bullies of the transfer market, were now among the vulnerable. It would leave the question hanging in the air - if the captain can be lured away, who might be next?

We all know what will be said about Terry if he declares a wish to leave - about the grasping and the greed of the modern-day footballer. But what would it say about Chelsea if they allow the “symbol of the club” - Ancelotti's words - to depart?

If spending is over at United, Liverpool are set to cash in

Sir Alex Ferguson is as liable to tell the world his club's transfer policy as he is to disclose his PIN on Sky Sports News. But if his declaration yesterday that Manchester United have finished their summer spending is based on fact, we can declare the championship race well and truly on - with Liverpool as marginal favourites.

The forecast is predicated on Liverpool keeping Javier Mascherano and properly replacing Xabi Alonso should he get his wish of escaping to Real Madrid, but otherwise it is boldly asserted.

Only four points separated United from Liverpool last season and the finishing order could well have been reversed had Fernando Torres not been ailing for several months. A spine of Reina, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres is as good as anything United can offer.

A bad season for United these days amounts to being runners-up in England and in Europe, but Ferguson is not in the business of consolation prizes - and second best to Liverpool would amount to a whole new scale of disappointment.

That appalling prospect will have loomed in the minds of United fans when they heard yesterday's pronouncement that the summer spending is over - made worse by the thought of the Glazers sitting in the United States counting the profits from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Search is on for rivalries and stardust

It is a curious golfing landscape in which the players ranked third, fourth and fifth in the world are more famous for what they have not won than what they have won.

Prominent on the list is Paul Casey, who has soared to No3 this year with victories as far-flung as Houston, Abu Dhabi and Wentworth, but missed the cut in the US Open at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, and has yet to contend at a major.

Then there is Kenny Perry, who blew a two-shot lead at the climax of the Masters. Make that two majors he has choked in.

Meanwhile, Sergio García, apparently the world's fifth-best golfer, goes to Turnberry this week with a record for near misses in majors that will not send anyone rushing to check his odds. Some applaud a ranking system that refuses to be hung up on victories in majors, but it leaves the rest of us searching for the big players, the compelling rivalries, the stardust on the leaderboard.

Up we go to Turnberry for this week's Open looking for the curious golfing year of 2009 to come, gloriously and belatedly, to life.

Bloodthirsty Bumble

Peter Siddle's bombardment of Graeme Swann at Cardiff on Sunday would have made brilliant television on silent - but praise to David “Bumble” Lloyd for providing such a rousing soundtrack.

“Go on”, “great stuff”, “he's hit him again!” Lloyd exclaimed, sounding like a ringside second imploring his boxer to throw the knockout punch. Brilliant, vivid commentary for the rest of us, although Swann might have something to say about such bloodthirsty exuberance.