Manchester United chief executive David Gill has insisted he is
treating suggestions of a £135million bid for Cristiano Ronaldo
''with a pinch of salt''.
Sulaiman Al-Fahim, the billionaire businessman at the centre of
the Manchester City takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, said
this week they could be willing to make a world record bid for the
United star.
Gill said faced with a serious offer of that size, any club
would have to consider it.
But he told BBC Radio Five Live: ''It was an interesting
comment, I think it's a
fan's-type comment.
''It's interesting when Alex [Ferguson] mentioned the Dimitar
Berbatov signing in advance that complaints were made to the
Premier League.
''He mentioned Torres and Fabregas in the same article so I
think we will treat that with a pinch of salt.
''I have never met the gentleman. That is a fantastic amount of
money and would turn the industry upside down so I can't believe he
is serious at those sorts of levels.
''Ultimately we would discuss any offer with Alex and the
owners, as that sort of money is very large for one person. But we
are not in the market to sell our best players.''
Gill also insisted the club stayed ''entirely within the rules''
during their pursuit of Berbatov.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has called for a change in
transfer rules, and initially complained to the Premier League
about United's approach for the player.
Gill however has rejected allegations that United did anything
wrong.
He added: ''We are very comfortable with how the whole thing
went. There were allegations made, we are comfortable that how we
approached it was entirely correct and within the rules.
''It came together on Monday and the agent was given permission
for the player to come up to Manchester, we arranged the plane for
him and Alex met him at the airport.
''It's true to say when the medical commenced we had not
finished all the final negotiations with Spurs but both parties
were confident they would be completed to everyone's
satisfaction.
''We are very comfortable we had permission to do what we did
and it was clear to Tottenham and Daniel Levy in particular that he
knew what we were doing and if that wasn't the case we wouldn't
have done it.''
Gill also confirmed they would be looking to finalise a
permanent deal for Argentina striker Carlos Tevez.
He said: ''One other bit of business we will do is finalise the
Carlos Tevez deal and then the composition of the squad will be
first class.''