The approach of Lord Sugar of the Transfermarkt of Football came to me with the large 'Game's Gone' moment of the international break – Southampton's £ 100 million appreciation of Tyler Dibling.
It seems a bit steep, even a dangerous investment, even for a teenager who could not wait to retire to St Mary's a month or so after drawing for Chelsea in the summer of 2022.
In the same year, in which the Serbian businessman Dragan Solak Bankrolled Sport Republic buy the acquisition of the saints of Bankrolled, a controlling interest in the club for £ 100 million.
So, which you could have buyed to the entire shooting match less than three years ago, you now get a wonderfully gifted 19-year-old with 25 Premier League performances and a few goals.
Inflation? Or while Sugar barked for those who came to shop for his players when he owned Tottenham, 'Lobster'. What translates as 'price of the day'.
How many are there to go? How many people want one? How desperate are they?
At the top of the Premier League they look desperate. There has never been such a shout for teenage potential.
Earlier this month, Chelsea agreed to pay £ 44 million for Geovany Quenda, a 17-year-old winger cum wing-back at Sporting who was prominent on the Ruben Amorim in Manchester United wish list.
Last year they defeated fierce competition to sign Estevao Willian, also 17 and the newest heir in Brazil, to Neymar, from Palmeiras in a deal from £ 28 million.
Before that they signed Kendry Paez, the 17-year-old version of Ecuador of the above for £ 17 million.
Big Bucks if it doesn't know how one of them could develop. How they will adapt to English football. According to changing expectations and changing tactical modes.
Or that they avoid the usual pitfalls, such as injuries and motivation tests in the midst of life -changing wealth.
There is still room for things to mislead from the age of 17, although for the money men in the unsavory matters of commodifying football players, maybe it might not matter anymore.
Get them young enough, spread the costs over several years on the balance, adjust the 'superclub' stamp and they can still make a profit in a few years, even if it turns out that they are not the next Lamine Yamal.
Tottenham won a scramble in February to sign Mathys Tel on loan. Tel is 19 and the first team in Bayern Munich still has to crack, who drew him from Rennes for £ 17 million when he was 17.
He still has a lot of impact on Spurs, which have the option to convert the loan into a permanent deal for £ 50 million.
Dibling is nine months younger than count and already impressed as a Premier League football player, although a sparkle in an arm team.
No teenager has made more Premier League performances this season. And only Dean Huijsen, the defender of Bournemouth who is interested in Real Madrid, has started more Premier League matches or played more minutes.
Experienced scouts who know of these things tell me a factor that separates is an 'uncomfortable' ability to beat opponents with the ball in tight areas, a precious gift for every coach trying to choose a way through well -organized opponents and busy defenses.
Those who flowed to see him play for England U19's against Wales during the recent break would have been looking for clues about what he can do when his team dominates the ball, in contrast to the threat of open spaces on the turnover of possession.
There is also the premium of home -grown player to satisfy quotas, and Saints can claim to have done part of the dirty work, so that the reality of defensive responsibility in his play is beaten at senior level.
Spurs and Manchester United, where Southampton's former football director Jason Wilcox is now in the same role, are among the sharpest, but certainly not alone.
Fourteen Premier League clubs have declared an interest according to my mail Sport colleague Chris Wheeler.
There is also interest from the Bundesliga. Dibling is represented by a renowned German desk roof, which have become influential in the UK, with English players in the books, including Harvey Elliott from Liverpool, and British agents on the payroll, including Neil Fewings van Dijk's transfer from Southampton orchestrated.
All this will be music for the ears of the accountants at St Mary's. Nothing will increase the price of lobster as an auction, as they found at the sale of Romeo Lavia at the age of 19, two years ago, and Chelsea Outbid Liverpool.
That was 2023, a year in which large clubs went shopping for central midfielders. West Ham brought £ 105 million from Arsenal for Declan Rice, and Chelsea spent more than £ 250 million on three: Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Lavia.
Buying clubs that are willing to invest have made it a volatile market. They may not get £ 100 million, but who can blame Southampton if they expect the price of the day?
Five things I learned this week
1: BBC Sport has decided that extra time has had its day and can no longer present FA Cup -Stropdas without complaining about the inconvenience. I know that Nottingham Forest's victory in Brighton was not a thriller and I can see how it should play with the schedule. But it is as if they don't really like football, they just love goals, with disturbing echoes from the start of Cricket's T20 revolution, eventually won by the people who did not like cricket only loved sixths.
2: Brighton has a good reputation for producing keepers. Carl Rushworth and James Beadle, both England U21 internationals, will be in the conversation if Bayern Munich waves to Bart Verbruggen. The last step from is Lorenz Ferdinand, the 18-year-old son of Rio, who on loan from Brighton in Havant and Waterlooville in the Southern League, a 3-1 win in Marlow on Saturday.
3: Brazil has only won six of 14 qualifications from the World Cup. Enough to cost the boss Dorival Junior his work, but there is no danger that they will miss the cut for the World Cup. In accordance with recent developments in Europe, Jeopardy has been removed from football on other hemispheres.
4: Three in two at the top of the championship could produce the most exciting part of the final of this season. I would expect that Sheffield United will end in the top two, but if they are just failing, they will know that the Prince Abdullah regime, which the club sold in December after appeal to a two-point penalty by the bills is not paying on time.
5: Gareth Ainsworth launches a podcast this next week called 'Shall We Sing A Song 4U' and explores the relationship between football and music with commentator Alan Parry and guests, first Stuart Pearce. Ainsworth, who stopped Shrewsbury to be the fifth permanent manager of Gillingham in the last 18 months, can be trapped between a rock n ball podcast and a hard place.
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