Manchester United boss
Sir Alex Ferguson has explained
to fans why they haven't spent the £80 million raised from
Cristiano Ronaldo's sale to
Real Madrid.
In his column for United Review, Ferguson wrote: "I
know there will be some fans who are disappointed that we didn’t
spend the princely £80million we got for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real
Madrid on another superstar. I would have done had I
felt we were getting value for our money, but this close-season
some crazy things went on and the price of the game’s major players
went through the roof.
"The asking price for players we were looking at just wasn’t
realistic and we held off. I think we have shown over the years
that we are not afraid to spend big and we have in fact frequently
created transfer fee records, but only when we felt the business
made financial sense. The level of the fees being demanded in
recent months just didn’t add up.
"So we stood off, but what you must remember is that we are
working from a position of strength. We don’t suddenly have to
splash out to try to compete at the top. We are already there,
thanks to a long-term strategy of buying mostly young players, who
we feel have the potential to become top performers.
Cristiano Ronaldo was a case in
point. We spotted him and bought him for a modest £12m. You know
the rest. In the six years we had him he became the world’s best
player, and we certainly wish him well with the rest of his
career."