Is Swansea City midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson worth £50 million? Swansea seem to think so, and Everton appear ready to pay something close to that, having had a previous £40m bid rebuffed.
Swansea's logic for a price almost £20m higher than what James Rodriguez might cost Bayern Munich is simple. Without the Icelandic playmaker's nine goals and 13 assists last season, the Liberty Stadium would be hosting Championship rather than Premier League football in August. As such, any attempts to replace him will be costly.
Meanwhile, Everton are not hanging around in the transfer market: Their finances were boosted by the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for £75m (plus add-ons) and a £60m arrangement with a Chinese bank to supplement part-owner Farhad Moshiri's heavy cash injections.