Rooney, the undoubted star of Euro 2004 so far, looks likely to leave Everton this summer after his exploits in Portugal. Every game that passes, it seems as though Wayne raises his level- and, as a result, his transfer valuation goes up!

On Chelsea TV, Peter Kenyon revealed "Rooney's been the talk of the tournament. He's been incredible, particularly coming off a fairly average season.

"But there's so much speculation, and if we started reacting to all the speculation we would literally do nothing else."

And Mourinho, who was in the crowd to see Rooney destroy Croatia on Monday, added "The only thing I can say is that the kid is playing amazing and Mr Eriksson deserves to take congratulations for that also.

"Since the first moment Mr Eriksson understood and gave Rooney confidence, and for a young kid his confidence is incredible."

I know there is nothing concrete here to suggest that Chelsea will be trying to sign Rooney, but this is silly season in the media! And Chelsea Mad can be silly with the best of them...