sending scouts to watch two-dozen times capped, four hundred million pound defender (fifty yellow cards and two pre-assists last season. Nineteen games) available at a bargain price"?

Surely this sort of thing has been a scam for decades and especially nowadays with all the media available. It's basically just a nice weekend Euro city-break in Benidorm or Bochum or Brescia for a club stalwart; "Happy Birthday, George, and take the wife (or not); see the sights, do some shopping, take in a show on Saturday night, go to the game on the Sunday and here's a list of the duty-free fags and booze the lads have asked for."