• Sir Alex Ferguson to break transfer record for
Ribery
• Deal depends on Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid
Manchester United have lined up Franck Ribery in a
world-record £63m transfer from Bayern Munich.
Manchester United
have made an offer of about €70m (£62.5m) for the
Bayern Munich
midfielder Franck Ribéry as they close in on a deal
that would shatter the world transfer record.
Sources in Munich confirmed the bid has been received for the
France international, who has made his desire to leave Germany
known in the past few weeks. United scouts have repeatedly watched
the 26-year-old in recent
Bundesliga matches and sounded out his friends and
entourage in Munich.
United's remarkable offer, which comfortably eclipses the record
£44m paid by Real Madrid for Zinedine Zidane in
2001, is contingent on the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid this
summer but the approach to Bayern has been firm enough to suggest
that the Portuguese's departure is a near certainty. Although
Bayern are understood to have turned down United's offer, it is
considered the first serious move in a negotiation that will
eventually bring the winger to Old Trafford.
Ribéry, who earns €8m a year at the Allianz Arena, the
equivalent of £134,000 a week, is set to replace Ronaldo as
United's highest-paid player. Due to the unfavourable exchange rate
and taxation levels in Britain, the Champions League holders, who
take on Arsenal in the semi-final second leg at the Emirates
Stadium tonight, will have to spend closer to £145,000 a week to
match his net wages at Bayern. Money, however, is not the
determining factor for Ribéry. The former Marseille player, who
moved to Munich in 2007 for €25m plus add-ons and is contracted to
Bayern until 2011, has repeatedly turned down offers to renegotiate
a contract extension on improved terms.
Finishing only 16th in the running for the 2008 Ballon D'Or
after a season in which he had inspired Bayern to a domestic
double – "I am disappointed, I should have deserved better,"
he said – and his club's 5-1 aggregate defeat by Barcelona in the
quarter-finals of this year's Champions League seem to have
convinced him that a move to a bigger club has become
necessary.
Bayern's general manager, Uli Hoeness, who has ruled out a sale
of Ribéry throughout the season, softened his stance over the
weekend. He confirmed Bayern were already eyeing up Werder Bremen's
Brazilian midfielder Diego, 24, as a possible replacement "in
case Ribéry were to go".
Manchester City, who have included the Frenchman on a short-list
of transfer targets, have been hampered by their lack of Champions
League football next season and are not seriously in the
running.
Barcelona recently came close to an agreement with Ribéry but
negotiations halted when news of their interest was leaked to the
French press by sources close to the player last week. Although
Barcelona have not officially pulled out, United are now best
placed to entice Ribéry abroad. Relations between Bayern and United
are cordial despite displeasure at Sir Alex Ferguson's aggressive pursuit
of Owen Hargreaves in the summer of 2006. The English international
moved to Old Trafford for £17m in July 2007.
It is understood that Bayern have rejected Ferguson's first
offer but, with the Germans no longer insisting on a prohibitive
€150m valuation – "We would perhaps let him go for that,"
Hoeness was quoted as saying in January – negotiations between
the clubs are sufficiently advanced to suggest an agreement can be
reached before the player goes on holiday in June.
In an interview with the French sports paper L'Equipe last
week Ribéry indicated that he would leave Bayern if his team did
not qualify for next season's Champions League: "In those
circumstances it would indeed be very difficult to stay, that's
obvious... That's why the club has to finish at least second."
Bayern are currently second in the league, three points off the
leaders VfL Wolfsburg. Only Germany's top two teams are guaranteed
places in the Champions League.
