Don’t worry Manchester United fans, the Glazer family will invest £25 million net per season in the playing squad, the Ronaldo money is absolutely in the bank account and the Americans have always supported Sir Alex Ferguson’s needs in the transfer market. The problem, you see, is nothing to do with the club’s £722 million debt.
There’s just no value in the market…
2009: Wesley Sneijder, 25, Real Madrid to Inter Milan – £12.4 million
2010: Wesley Sneijder, 26, Current value – £25 million
2008: Mesut Özil, 19, Schalke 04 to Werder Bremen – £3.5 million
2010: Mesut Özil, 21, Current value – £25 million
2003. Kaká, 21, São Paulo to AC Milan – £7 million
2009: Kaká, 27, AC Milan to Real Madrid – £56 million
2007: Luis Suárez, 20, Gronigen to Ajax – £6.25 million
2010: Luis Suárez, 23, Current value – £30 million
2007: Gonzalo Higuaín, 19, River Plate to Real Madrid – £10.8 million
2010: Gonzalo Higuaín, 22, Current value – £30 million
2009: Diego Milito, 30, Genoa to Inter Milan – swap
2010: Diego Milito, 31, Current value – £20 million
2005: David Villa, 23, Real Zaragoza to Valencia – £10 million
2010: David Villa, 28, Valencia to Barcelona – £34 million
2008: Gerrard Pique, 21, Manchester United to Barcelona – £6 million
2010: Gerrard Pique, 23, Current value – £15 million
2004: Diego Forlan, 23, Manchester United to Villarreal – £2 million
2007: Diego Forlan, 27, Villarreal to Atlético Madrid – £17.4 million
2008: Ryan Shawcross, 20, Manchester United to Stoke City – £1 million
2010: Ryan Shawcross, 22, Current value – £10 million
2001: Juan Sebastián Verón, 26, Lazio to Manchester United – £28.1 million
2003: Juan Sebastián Verón, 28, Manchester United to Chelsea – £15 million
2003: Eric Djemba-Djemba, 22, Nantes to Manchester United – £3.5 million
2005: Eric Djemba-Djemba, 24, Manchester United to Aston Villa – £0.3 million
2003: Kléberson, 24, Atlético Paranaense to Manchester United – £6.5 million
2005: Kléberson, 26, Manchester United to Beşiktaş – £2.5 million
2000: Rio Ferdinand, 21, West Ham United to Leeds United – £18 million
2002: Rio Ferdinand, 23, Leeds United to Manchester United – £31.12 million
2004: Michael Carrick, 22, West Ham United to Tottenham Hotspur – £2.75 million
2006: Michael Carrick, 24, Tottenham Hotspur to Manchester United – £18 million
2006: Dimitar Berbatov, 25, Bayer Leverkusen to Tottenham Hotspur – £10.9 million
2008: Dimitar Berbatov, 27, Tottenham Hotspur to Manchester United – £30.5 million
* all forex correct as of 7 July 2010
whats your point? value or no value? i dont get ir?
There is value but not if you buy high, sell cheap.. or buy high when players were cheap shortly before. Basically.
The list makes a good point, but there are counter examples that prove sometimes there is no value, e.g. Tevez, Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Shevchenko, Barry, Aquilani, Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Benzema – ok so most of those are Man City, who can afford to pay stupid prices for players without desire or who underachieve or who aren’t good enough for the top teams.
The problem is Ozil for £3.5m doesn’t come up all that often. Just like when Fergie turned down Zidane because we had Beckham coming through the ranks, or when he missed out on Gascoigne, or when he didn’t do quite enough to get Ronaldinho, there’s always going to be some deals out there that with hindsight fans and managers wish they’d made.
And whilst Forlan has been amazing since he went to Spain and at this summers World Cup, the fact is he did struggle at United. I think leaving United for a smaller club gave him the chance to rebuild himself, and to become the player he is now.
At the time I thought we were crazy for not insisting on at least one player from Real Madrid as part of the Ronaldo deal, and I think Sneijder has proved that. But the boss is still the best manager there has ever been, and if he thinks the best he can do for United is to keep his mouth shut about the Glazers, then so be it, we have to trust him on that one.
I agree Ed. Sick of that excuse. Also why do we have to speak of targets after they have been snapped up by other clubs?. Like villa a few days back,benzema last season. We wanted benzema and went for free agent michael owen.surely there were better options
This is a stupid article. If anything you’re just proving Fergie’s point: players that were available cheaply only a few years ago are now valued at vastly inflated prices. That’s exactly why Fergie is buying players like Hernandez for small sums instead of splashing out huge fees.
Moronic.
Do I spot somebody who doesn’t get the point…. yep.
I get the point completely. It’s just a poorly made point. You didn’t think this one through very well.
To clarify: your article has nothing to do with Fergie’s claims that there isn’t value in the market RIGHT NOW. He isn’t talking about 2003 or any of the other years you’ve listed here. He’s saying that in the summer of 2010, in the Manchester City/Real Madrid-inflated transfer market, it’s difficult to find value for money. The lofty fees you’ve quoted for the players listed here are proof positive of that. These are players that have seen their “value” far outstrip what they are actually worth.
You then bring up past transfer deals – Veron, etc. How is that relevant to the discussion here at all? Veron was bought and sold in a different era. It has no bearing on Fergie’s current statement about value in today’s transfer market.
Most of the players you list in the first half were unknowns at the time, bought cheaply, whose reputations have improved as they have played regular football and made an impact at the World Cup. This is EXACTLY the transfer policy that Fergie is following now – buying young talent, developing it and reaping the rewards, instead of spending huge sums on developed stars. Just look at Hernandez – bought for about 6m, now he’s probably “worth” about 10m based on a few WC appearances alone.
You’ve got some chip on your shoulder about Fergie’s transfer policy, and some of the failed transfers of years gone by, but by confusing the two issues you’ve created this witless mismash of an article that does nothing to prove your point or disprove Fergie’s. You might as well dredge up Ralph Milne’s transfer, so unfocused is your article here. Nonsense.
You’re good a throwing around the insults, very poor at sustaining an argument. Point is ‘value’ can be found now as before – Sneijder to Inter for £12m last summer just one example – but since when has United bothered with the concept? Club was quite happy to blow huge sums on players that were half the price a couple of years before (Carrick, Ferdinand, Berbatov) or, like now, spend on ‘cheap’ unknowns who almost always fail (Kleberson, Djemba, Miller etc). Ronaldo is the exception that proves the rule.
United is now shopping in the bargain basement only.
I guess my list was just a little too subtle for you. Happy to spell it out though.
Of course there is a club that’s following the exact same recruitment strategy as United – buy young and cheap because there’s no ‘value’ at the top end. The Tampa Bay Bucs. And they finished dead last in 2009.
dont tell us crap that there is no value, where are others getting value from. Fuck
To be honest this numbers is realy a good argumentation for what Sir Alex is saying. Be course all the numbers are higher today then what they ware for a couple of years ago. Meaning that it was possible to buy a good player for good money before. But now it cost to much.
And that could also be the reason that Sir Alex is buying young players for around 10 million. And not star players like Higuaín for 30 million. So that in 2-3 years you might have to writ:
20010: Javier Hernández, 21, Guadalajara to Manchester United – ca. £10 million
2012: Javier Hernández, 23, Current value – £25 million
Let`s hope so anyway
Lets hope… or goes out on loan, fails to score any goals in is worth about 3p. Kleberson was player of the tournament at WC 2002!
So basically you just want us to spend 30m on Captain Obvious signings all summer, and you don’t trust Fergie’s instincts in recruiting young talent. If he’d have signed Ozil two years ago you’d have probably been unimpressed and calling for him to sign Ibrahimovic instead.
Just admit you’re a Championship Manager fan who thinks higher transfer fees automatically equals higher ability.
Ha, let’s just throw around some more insults! No I want United to remain competitive while maintaining sensible ticket prices, treating the match going supporters with respect and not tell repeated lies just because the club’s 15,000 seats down on season ticket sales this season and £722m in debt.
Do I trust Fergie’s instincts, yes. Do I believe you get what you pay for. Absolutely. In the last decade name a ‘young talent’ under £10m who has been a success at United. Go on… just one.
Any which way you look at it, to buy Sneijder now at £30m+ is silly when we could have gone in for him last year at less than £20m. If Ferguson can find someone good for less than £20m then there’s no reason he shouldn’t buy him – but it would seem that we’re now in the “young, cheap and possibly good” market nowadays.
Ronaldo what 12 mil and sold for 80.
Nani probably worth a bit more than what we bought him for.
Valencia as well.
Evans, Fletcher etc for free and current value you can probably say are quite a bit more.
Happens all the time – players may be bought for ridiculous sums and not perform or a player that wasn’t highly regarded goes cheap and suddenly is worth a bundle and are left to wonder what if.
Can’t foresee every possibility. SAF hasn’t really steered us too bad though with his judgement on players brought in or sold off.
Seriously, you can read so go re-read the question. Under £10m I said and for good reason because that’s United’s budget. Ronaldo £12m, Nani close to £18m, Valencia £16m, Anderson over £20m. This isn’t some Fergie bashing exercise… this is an exercise to show that seeking ‘value’ i.e. cheap players alone leads to transfer market failure and United slipping down the table. Just ask Arsene Wenger…
It’s more than 15000 down on season ticket sales mate.
http://www.cradlebay.co.uk/index.php/2010/06/09/manchester-united-season-ticket-sales-plummet/
What a stupid post.
With the gift of hindsight, SAF could have spent 10 mill and have a team of champions.
Who’d have known Milito, Snijder, Robben, etc would have the seasons of their lives.
i still dont get it….
so tell me where the value is, when you buy cheap and sell high?
sir alex is wasting the time !! those who support glazers are not real supporter !!!!if they are supporter then pay up the bloody debt !!