By Matt Barlow
PUBLISHED: 13:43 EST, 17 July 2013 | UPDATED: 13:46 EST, 17 July 2013
Had the marketing men at the Thai beer company Singha had their way, Bangkok would now be preparing for another pre-season friendly, this one between Chelsea and Manchester United.
What a delicious prospect in the circumstances. At the very least, it would have everyone in the same city to conduct transfer talks for Wayne Rooney.
The fixture fell through. United flew Australia after losing 1-0 to the Singha All Stars and Chelsea are bound for Malaysia after beating the same invitational team comprised of players from Thailand's Premier League by the same score.
The deal may not. Negotiations for Rooney's move will continue regardless but after this week's developments, these three things are clear: Chelsea want him, United don't (except as cover) and the player wants to move.
On top of that, he wants to move to Stamford Bridge, it seems, tired of being shuffled from centre-forward to No.10, to left wing, to deep midfield and to the bench in the United team, the idea of playing centre-forward in Jose Mourinho's team has great appeal.
Mourinho already has an embarrassing surplus of creative play-makers in the No.10 role. He has plenty of wide-men. What he needs is someone to lead the line in a 4-2-3-1 system, link up play and score goals.
This is the reason Rooney has emerged as his preferred target after Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani proved too expensive and moved to France.
He has all the hall-marks of a Mourinho striker: strong, muscular and capable of occupying two central defenders at one time with his physical presence and willing work-rate.
In the air, he is capable. He is not Didier Drogba but who is? He has the football intelligence and imagination to find space for himself and open spaces for others. He can drop deep and see a pass, in this sense he will be perfect for wide speedsters, cutting in from the flanks like Eden Hazard and Andre Schurrle.
Rooney may have become stuck in a rut with United and, to a lesser extent, England but he has a terrific strike rate. He scores goals of all kinds, including the fantasy goals. In this sense, he can be Drogba.
Playing ahead of two flying wingers and a playmaker with the vision of Oscar or Juan Mata could relight his fire. It is an exciting proposition and it will surely appeal to England manager Roy Hodgson in a World Cup year.
One added appeal for Chelsea is the fact that Rooney meets the Premier League criteria of a "home-grown" player, which helps Mourinho maximise his squad strength.
It has repercussions, of course, for Fernando Torres, signed two and a half years ago for a British transfer record £50m because it confirms the new manager would like to replace him.
By this stage, discreet conversation will have been had and Rooney is not swapping second fiddle to Robin van Persie for second fiddle to Torres.
Romelu Lukaku made a point with a strong first-half performance and he scored the only goal of the game in Bangkok on Wednesday from a penalty, awarded for a foul on Wallace, the teenage Brazilian right-back playing his first game in a Chelsea shirt.
Mourinho revealed that Wallace would spend next season on loan at a club in Europe. Roma have been interested and it may oil a move for Daniele de Rossi, another player admired by the Chelsea manager.
Frank Lampard was unable to play after aggravating a sore Achilles tendon in the warm-up before yesterday's game but is expected to rest for a couple of days before training again at the weekend.