The talk at Chelsea

David Beckham's possible transfer to Chelsea is causing all the obvious speculation. But behind the scenes the battle is on for the lucrative role of brokering the deal between the two clubs and then negotiating what is certain to be a highly complex contract for the England captain with the Blues. This role is almost certain to be worth a seven-figure sum and it's no surprise agents are attempting to put themselves in pole position. Beckham watchers will remember that he cut all ties with his former mentor, SFX's Tony Stephens, last year thanks to the affair with Rebecca Loos. The word is, though, that Stephens has recently been in touch with Becks again, and met his new personal manager, Terry Byrne, in Madrid. Sources tell us this was just to "catch up" following Stephens's several month sabbatical after he masterminded the move from Manchester United to the Spanish capital. Stephens's expertise is such that Beckham might consider using him again, but quite what Victoria will make of it all as SFX employed Loos as Becks's PA is fairly predictable in our view.

But Gardner digs deep

So if it's not going to be Stephens, who will it be? As this newspaper has already revealed, the man doing the spadework on the ground at the moment is Becks's old pal Dave Gardner. The former United youth player has been spotted in Madrid several times recently and works for none other than Elite, the agency formerly run by Sir Alex Ferguson's son Jason. The young Fergie is believed to have resigned from Elite following a probe into the company's role in several United transfers by the club's major shareholders JP McManus and John Magnier, in the midst of their dispute with Sir Alex over the racehorse Rock Of Gibraltar. Now it seems a real possibility Elite could play a key role in Becks's return - ironic really since he left United because he had fallen out with Fergie Snr.

And don't rule out Zahavi

However, a figure in the background, is none other than our old friend, Pini Zahavi, the Israeli uber-agent who is Roman Abramovich's football adviser. Zahavi was instrumental in getting several players to Chelsea last summer, and their chief executive Peter Kenyon from United. But he has also done business with Elite in the past, so don't be surprised if there is another pay-day for the extraordinarily connected Zahavi.

Terry in Sheffield steal

And finally, one of the more bizarre rumours to come out of the "Ken Bates tries to buy Sheffield Wednesday" story is the one about how the former Chelsea chairman is going to tempt John Terry away from Stamford Bridge to go "oop north" and revitalise the sleeping giant on the field. It has already been speculated that Bates has spoken to Dennis Wise, the current Millwall boss, about becoming their new manager.