Carlos Queiroz has revealed his disbelief after Real Madrid
splashed out 30m for Pepe when they could have signed him for just
2m four years ago.
Los Merengues extravagant summer purchase from Porto saw a few
eyebrows raised, but none more so than in Manchester where the
club's former coach watched in disbelief.
During his one season in charge at the Bernabéu, Queiroz told the
board about a rising star in Portugal that he believed would become
a top level player only to be rebuffed because Pepe was not a
Galáctico.
Pepe was plying his trade for Maritimo and the current Manchester
United assistant manager was told that he would cost Madrid just
2m ahead of the 2003-04 campaign.
"I told Florentino Perez that he was a player with a great chance
of becoming a great player," Queiroz explained.
"Real Madrid did not want
to sign him at that time because they believed that defenders did
not sell shirts."
Porto stepped in and snapped up the centre-back, who was 20 at the
time, and made a 28m profit after forcing Madrid's hand this
summer.
The incredible oversight has left the current Madrid administration
needing to break the bank in order to land the defender, who will
now compete for a place alongside Fabio Cannavaro, Christoph
Metzelder and Sergio Ramos for a place in Bernd Schuster's
team.
Pedja Mijatovic, Madrid's sporting director, wanted to capture
Christian Chivu from Roma, but after talks broke down the club were
hurried into moving for Pepe.
