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Manchester United Boss Ferguson: Transfer Market Is 'Ridiculous'
The Red Devils' boss is amazed as everyone else at some of the fees being thrown around this season.
Jul 13, 2009 10:46:34 PM
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has labeled the current transfer market as "ridiculous."
In a summer where mega money deals have been the norm, United have been somewhat subdued. Speaking at the press conference to unveil their three new signings, Ferguson said, "I said a year ago, when they [the Abu Dhabi United Group] took over at City, that this was possible."
"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."
Ferguson used the example of United's pursuit of Karim Benzema as proof, continuing, "I can only placate the fans in one way and that's by not being stupid."
"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 that we thought was fair and we didn't want to go above that position.
"Maybe Lyon thought we under-valued him and that's fine, it's their decision. They got €42million 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."
Arjun Miglani, Goal.com
For all the latest transfer news visit Goal.com's Transfer Zone.
In a summer where mega money deals have been the norm, United have been somewhat subdued. Speaking at the press conference to unveil their three new signings, Ferguson said, "I said a year ago, when they [the Abu Dhabi United Group] took over at City, that this was possible."
"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."
Ferguson used the example of United's pursuit of Karim Benzema as proof, continuing, "I can only placate the fans in one way and that's by not being stupid."
"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 that we thought was fair and we didn't want to go above that position.
"Maybe Lyon thought we under-valued him and that's fine, it's their decision. They got €42million 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."
Arjun Miglani, Goal.com
For all the latest transfer news visit Goal.com's Transfer Zone.
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