The burgeoning rivalry between Chelsea and Liverpool could spill over into the transfer market this summer with the London club preparing to move for David Bentley, one of their long-term targets. The Blackburn Rovers winger's contract talks have stalled and he seems certain to leave Ewood Park at the end of the season.

Bentley has attracted attention from several leading Barclays Premier League clubs, with Newcastle United also interested, but Chelsea have the resources to beat their rivals to the England player's signature if they choose to follow up their initial interest. The club would have no problem matching Blackburn's £15 million valuation and could treble Bentley's wages to £60,000 a week, which would be more of a problem for Liverpool, given their budgetary restraints and uncertainty over the club's ownership.

Rafael Benítez and Avram Grant also have other targets in mind, but others at Stamford Bridge believe that Bentley could provide the open and attacking football demanded by Roman Abramovich, the club's owner. Unlike fantasy signings such as Lionel Messi and Kaká, the 23-year-old is available and could be accommodated without disturbing the club's wage structure, as well as fitting into their template of signing young English players hungry to move up to the next level.

The improvement of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Wayne Bridge has shown the merit of that policy in the past, although the signings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Steve Sidwell proved to be less successful.

Such is Blackburn's desperation to keep Bentley that they have opened talks about extending a contract signed last season that has three years to run, although the prospects of him re-signing are remote. Bentley showed his independent streak by rejecting a five-year contract when he left Arsenal two years ago because of his eagerness to secure regular football.

Bentley has made great progress at Blackburn, making his England debut as a second-half substitute in last year's European Championship qualifying win over Israel at Wembley, but he believes that he needs to be playing Champions League football to increase his chances of becoming the long-term successor to David Beckham.