When did Roman Abramovich become so stingy?

Back in the day our man used to be kicking back on yachts, buying football clubs, splashing out £24m on Shaun Wright-Phillips – all without ever bothering to check his balance at the ATM.

Nowadays he is tighter than Mike Ashley’s suits – refusing to sanction big-money transfers, quibbling over wages, buying fewer yachts. The guy is an oligarch, for Pete’s sake. What gives?

Who knows, but Roman’s frugal ways already look to have cost him one title-winning manager, and now they could be about to cost him another.

With Antonio Conte almost certain to exit Stamford Bridge this summer after becoming increasingly frustrated with the club’s recruitment strategy, Abramovich had reportedly turned to Luis Enrique as his replacement. But according to the Telegraph, that move may now be scuppered by money.

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Enrique will reportedly only be offered the Chelsea hotseat if he agrees to a “significantly lower wage” than he was paid at the Nou Camp.

Enrique is believed to have been earning £16.5m a year with the Catalan giants, with whom he won two La Liga titles and a Champions League, but may only get half that amount in west London.

Conte is currently on £9.5m a year, making him the highest paid manager in the club’s history, and Abramovich “will not want to pay his successor more”.

So, ultimately, it will depend on whether Enrique believes he can make ends meet on £9.5m a year. Maybe some kind of Just Giving page could ameliorate the situation.

Can can’t decide on future

Football’s biggest contract tease Emre Can continues to play with the hearts of Liverpool and Juventus, refusing to commit to either while his form on the pitch becomes ever more impressive. He clearly gets a kick out of leading táhem on, the naughty boy.

But Juve have cracked first. The Mirror– via Gazzetta dello Sport – says the Italian champions are “running out of patience” with the German midfielder’s flakiness and will give him a “deadline” to make a decision over his future. He’s got seven days, and will blatantly ignore it.

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Meanwhile, Arsenal are targeting Atletico Madrid defender Jose Gimenez after “admitting defeat” in their pursuit of Lazio’s Stefan de Vrij, who looks set to join Liverpool instead (Sports Illustrated). The Spanish side will reportedly demand £57.3m for the 23-year-old Uruguayan, because that’s the kind of thing of people do these days.

Elsewhere, Chelsea have put contract talks with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois “on hold” until after their key games against Barcelona and Leicester in March (Standard), Arsenal and Manchester City are competing to sign Paris Saint-Germain’s 17-year-old midfielder Yacine Adil (Talksport) and Everton will sack Sam Allardyce at the end of the season and replace him with Shakhtar Donetsk boss Paulo Fonseca (Star). This wouldn’t happen if his name was Sam Allardici.