Spending surprises Sir Alex
On the day Sir Alex paraded two new signings and confirmed the Reds
were in talks with West Ham over striker Carlos Tevez, the United
boss admitted he was surprised other Premier League clubs had so
far been thrifty in their summer spending.
Most reports estimate United's transfer bill will surpass the £70m
mark if the Reds are successful in luring Tevez away from Upton
Park. In contrast, Chelsea have acquired four players on free
transfers, while Arsenal have generated more than they've spent
after offloading Thierry Henry to Spanish giants Barcelona.
"I thought there would have been more spending," Sir Alex said at
yesterday's press conference. "There's a lot of money in the
Premier League at the moment, so I expected more [transfer
activity]. That's one of the reasons we wanted to do things so
quickly [with Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves]. That allowed me to
enjoy my holiday I didn't have to be on the phone to David Gill
every two minutes. It was a good bit of business."
The manager also praised the Glazer family, who took over ownership
of the club in May 2005.
"They've been nothing but supportive," Sir Alex said. "They've
demonstrated that support by giving us a lot of money this summer
and I appreciate it. I think it gives us a really strong squad this
season, which was maybe our downfall last season when we just
didn't have enough of a squad to handle all the competitions we
were in.
"Hopefully with the addition of Owen, Nani and Anderson and
another signing soon we'll have a promising start to the
season."