SOCCER:MANCHESTER UNITED are taking a calculated gamble about the future of several key members of Alex Ferguson's squad after bringing in a new policy about contract talks to save the club millions of pounds in wages.
Dimitar Berbatov, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Park Ji-sung are among the players who will be affected after the club’s owners, the Glazer family, abandoned the old policy of initiating negotiations once a player is two years from the end of his contract.
Instead, the club are willing to delay contract talks until the player has only a year to go, a point at which his transfer value is already depreciating sharply.
Previously, when the club operated as a plc, the club were eager to tie up players to new contracts with two years to spare, to demonstrate to shareholders that they were trying to protect their best assets.
That no longer applies now the Glazers have control of the club and the Americans, together with the chief executive, David Gill, have decided it makes good business sense not to increase their wage bill if it is unnecessary.
It runs the risk of United losing players for deflated transfer fees but the club are relaxed about that possibility, believing most, if not all, the players involved will want to stay.
The policy is described as flexible, with each case judged on its merit. Talks have already started, for instance, about offering Wayne Rooney a financial package that would make him the highest-paid player in the club’s history, even though his current deal does not expire until 2012.
Nemanja Vidic finalised a new contract at the start of the season and, once the Rooney negotiations are concluded, it is expected there will be discussions with Patrice Evra, who also has two years to go.
As for Berbatov, Fletcher, Carrick and Park, their position is not so clear and they may have to wait until next summer before being offered new terms.
United have eight players out of contract in 2012, with Anderson and John O’Shea also among those not regarded as priorities.
The policy decision follows the Glazers’ introduction of a new rule that stipulates the club will not buy players aged 26 or above for large transfer fees.
Instead the club will continue to try to find young players who can develop into stars of the future.
Their three summer signings – Chris Smalling, Javier Hernandez and Bebe – all fit into this category, with the latter lined up to make his first appearance in the League Cup tie at Scunthorpe United tonight. Federico Macheda, Michael Owen and Anderson, who has recovered from a cruciate ligament injury, are also expected to feature.
Meanwhile, United have confirmed that the agent Jorge Mendes acted for Bebe when Ferguson signed the 20-year-old striker from the Portuguese first division club Vitoria de Guimaraes in the summer’s most extraordinary transfer deal.
Bebe’s previous agent, Goncalo Reis, who had represented Bebe when he moved to Vitoria just weeks earlier from the third division club Estrela da Amadora, has previously complained he was cut out of the deal before Bebe signed for United.
Bebe had not played a single competitive match for Vitoria, and Ferguson had not seen him play, when United’s manager signed him for €8.7 million.
It was known at the time that Mendes, the agent of Ferguson’s former assistant and Portugal’s then coach, Carlos Queiroz, and a string of Portuguese stars including Cristiano Ronaldo, had acted in the deal, but not that he was Bebe’s own agent.
A spokesman for United said: “Jorge Mendes is Bebe’s agent. We dealt with Bebe’s representative and the club.”
GuardianService
