ALEX FERGUSON has condemned the “stupid” prices being quoted in this summer’s transfer market after admitting that Manchester United, once the most powerful spenders in English football, have been priced out of signing players because of the way selling clubs have reacted to the financial power of Manchester City and Real Madrid.
While Madrid have spent €209 million since the galactico-obsessed Florentino Perez’s reinstatement as president, and City have become the biggest spenders in the Premier League, United have spent only a quarter of the €93 million they received for Cristiano Ronaldo and Ferguson said he does not expect any more arrivals because of the fees being demanded.
Newcastle’s former striker Michael Owen, the manager conceded, had been signed as a back-up option after United refused to match Madrid in the pursuit for his principal target, Lyon’s France striker Karim Benzema, who moved to the Bernabeu for around €42 million.
His only remaining target is Douglas Costa, a Brazilian Under-20 international, but Ferguson is frustrated in the extreme that Gremio want €24 million for a teenager who has only just broken into their team. Unless a compromise can be reached, United will withdraw their interest.
“I said a year ago, when they [the Abu Dhabi United Group] took over at City, that this was possible,” Ferguson said. “Some of the values across the world now are amazing; the numbers that get tossed about. The values of players have shot sky high. I don’t think any of the [big] transfers this summer are realistic but for some reason it has caught fire this summer. It’s an unusual summer and it’s very difficult to get value because of that.”
United have spent around €23 million so far, buying Antonio Valencia from Wigan Athletic for €20.5 million and Gabriel Obertan from Bordeaux for €3.5 million, with Owen arriving on a free transfer. The club have been linked with a variety of expensive targets, however, and Ferguson anticipates supporters being disappointed not to have replaced Ronaldo with a more highly sought replacement.
“I can only placate the fans in one way and that’s by not being stupid,” he said. “We have that wonderful sum of money from Real Madrid but there’s no way we are going to throw it away by putting an extra zero on the end of transfer fees when I didn’t think it was value.
“We went in for Benzema but, as far as we were concerned, the price tag was beyond his value. If other clubs want to go to that level, that’s entirely their business. We had a value we thought was fair and we didn’t want to go above that position. Maybe Lyon thought we undervalued him and that’s fine, it’s their decision. They got €42 million for him and they will be happy with that because they have done well. All this tells you about us is that we are sensible.
“We have always had to pay a bit extra at this club but this summer we were not prepared to do that. We have a very good squad and some good young players. So there was no need to have a knee-jerk reaction after losing him [Ronaldo]. We should not panic because of one player leaving.
“What I have done is bring in youth in Antonio [23] and Gabriel [20] and an old codger in Michael [29] to balance things up because experience is vital, and I know that he will score a lot of goals for us.”
Yet Owen was not Ferguson’s first target when it became apparent that Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez would be leaving Old Trafford. “Michael knows that,” Ferguson explained. “What confused us was waiting for a decision from Carlos Tevez. “That confused us as we were not getting any answers, which put us in quite a quandary in terms of what we should do. We waited long enough. We tried to get Benzema but, as soon as that fell through, we went for Michael. I’ve explained this to Michael – that, at 21, Benzema was a possibility. But as soon as that looked to be floundering I contacted Michael.”
GuardianService
