Chelsea benefactor arouses great suspicion by “going into someone’s house” and “leaving someone’s house.”

The Barcelona press sleep with one eye open in case anyone tries to tempt any of their players away, and yesterday, their diligence paid off. Sort of. Roman Abramovich was picked up on their radar, lurking in the upper part of the city, the section of town where the posh folk live.

While they, and Chelsea fans eager for a present, hoped he might stop by Ronaldinho’s house and try and lure him through the letterbox with an apple, all they got was Poppa Abramovich going to “a private residence with a number of other people.” He then “left, destination unknown.” And apparently without the horse-toothed one in his luggage.

No one knows whether he spent the night in the city, although Mr Abramovich rarely sleeps away from home, and neither was he seen at Barcelona’s mind-numbing 1-0 win over Osasuna last night. What an enigma!

(FYI: Poppa also likes the look of coach Rijkaard. If Rijkaard were to leave, don’t waste your money on Mourinho taking over. While he knows the club from his days as water carrier to Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal, Johan Cruyff, the power behind the throne at Barcelona, doesn’t much care for his style.)