All you have to do is pay his salary, which promises to be rather hefty -- in the vicinity of 12-million-dollars a year -- and you have to give him a five-year deal.

Only 60 million dollars for five years' worth of one of the top players in the world? Not a bad deal, right? Or is it?

Maybe it's not as good as it first appears -- otherwise his current club, Bayern Munich, would have met his demands. Indeed, there would have been a veritable auction for his services.

As it happened, despite much speculation, Ballack generated relatively little interest. It was always going to be a limited group of suitors because of the sheer size of his wages, but the Ballack auction never quite materialized.

Despite public speculation, Barcelona, Milan and Juventus did not enter negotiations directly. Manchester United's timid approach was rebuffed. Real Madrid was lukewarm throughout (there are bigger issues to deal with at the Bernabeu right now).

The only serious offers have come from Inter Milan and Chelsea, plus, of course, Bayern's deal, which did not meet his demands. As of Thursday, Ballack's agent has rebuffed Inter -- suggesting the Nerazzurri were not exactly a step up from Bayern -- and hinted that his client was heading to Stamford Bridge.

The deal is far from done and there could be late developments. And there are serious questions about where he would fit in, particularly since his game is somewhat similar to Frank Lampard's and who actually pushed for his signing, since he does not seem to be a Jose Mourinho-type player.

But the story here is how few clubs seriously pursued him. It's a sign of these uncertain economic times that the two clubs who put real offers on the table -- Inter and Chelsea -- are also two of the clubs who are quickest at whipping out the checkbook.

Simply put, committing 60 million dollars for five years to a guy who turns 30 in September and who -- more worryingly -- has missed nearly a quarter of his team's league games since 1999 is not good business in the current economic climate, where the bean counters matter about as much as the managers.

That's why, from Ronaldo to Ruud van Nistelrooy and from Thierry Henry to Pavel Nedved, a whole raft of A-list superstars could be on the move this summer. Big salaries coupled with a proximity to age 30 seem to instantly make you expendable, no matter how well you're still performing.

But before you start feeling sorry for Ballack, remember this: He has about 60 million little friends to cheer him up.