Portugal's team of millions show their worth...

Wonderful holiday destination, Portugal. Beautiful country, genuinely hospitable people, and extremely reasonable prices. Just don't go there shopping for elite footballers unless your wallet is voluminous because their transfer fees are in a totally different league.

The Italian daily Tuttosport made the argument this week that Portugal's Euro 2008 squad would cost more to buy than any other at the tournament. Combining recently paid transfer fees, release clauses and some generally realistic estimates of sell-on value, Tuttosport calculated the worth of Luiz Felipe Scolari's group at more than €300m. Of the 15 other nations pursuing the remodeled Henry Delaunay trophy only Spain could come close to that figure.

It helps, of course, when your attack is led by one of the two best players on the planet. Cristiano Ronaldo isn't just in competition with Kaka for Fifa's official title of World Footballer of the Year, he has emulated AC Milan's creator-in-chief in drawing talk from Real Madrid of a €100m offer. Breathtaking when first mooted, yet not that much of a mark-up on his 'intrinsic value' of €83m, according to a recent study published by the University of Navarra in Spain.

Next on the Portuguese shopping list comes Ricardo Quaresma, another upright wide-man blessed with dancing feet and an ability to decide matches. FC Porto have written a buy-out clause of €40m into Quaresma's contract and will look for some 75% of that if he moves on this summer. Nani and Simao are Portugal's two other wingers, the pair raising €45.5m between them upon moving to Manchester United and Atletico Madrid a year ago.

In central midfield, Deco and Joao Moutinho should command eight-figure fees when they leave Barcelona and Sporting this summer. The first-choice defence is made up of two Chelsea full backs in Jose Bosingwa (€25m, including his agent's share) and Paulo Ferreira (€20m) and two of the most expensive centre backs in the world - Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho.

That a product sells for such a high price is testament both to its quality and its marketing, and the latter can be almost entirely attributed to the efforts of Jorge Mendes. The doyen of European agents not only represents eight of the national team's 10 most valuable players, he also looks after the business affairs of Portugal's premier coach - one Jose Mourinho.

The Special One's special agent has developed an almost symbiotic relationship with Porto, who nurture the talent, integrate it into their championship winning sides, then sell it on at great profit to club, player and entrepreneur. Carvalho (€30m), Deco (€21m), Paulo Ferreira (€20m)and Maniche (€16m) set the standard when leaving Porto's 2004 Champions League winning team. Brazil-born Pepe and his compatriot Anderson (€30m each) raised it still higher in 2007; this summer Boswinga has already gone and Quaresma is scheduled for sale. Such is the scale of the Mendes operation that he has sent a pair of in-house journalists to the tournament to service his players' promotion.

Comfort on the ball, game awareness, and creativity from every area of the field are the qualities Mendes has marketed to more moneyed areas of Europe. Two games, five goals and six points worth of exhilarating, intelligent go-for-it football behind them, Portugal are effectively the first nation into the quarter-finals. The most expensive squad at the Euros may be a centre-forward and goalkeeper short of proving themselves the best, but we'll enjoy watching them try.