Sir Alex Ferguson speaks out over the Lucas Moura transfer saga

This evening Paris St Germain confirmed the signing of Brazilian Lucas Moura, who had been heavily linked to Manchester United in recent weeks. Sir Alex Ferguson is being slated by fans for missing out on two big signings already this summer with both Eden Hazard and now Lucas Moura deciding to sign for other clubs who both happened to be owned by mega rich businessmen.

Ferguson spoke about transfers in the press conference after their penalty defeat to Barcelona in Gothenburg.

“I find it quite amazing that a club can pay €45million for a 19-year-old boy.

“To make a mark on everyone – to tell everyone that PSG are here – they’ve signed Thiago Silva from Milan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“They must have spent about £150m in the last month. As you know, the only deterrent to that is UEFA. In the conditions of European football, you don’t qualify for Europe by winning the league or coming second – you only get in by invitation.

That’s where, hopefully, UEFA can have some power. When somebody’s paying £45m for a 19-year-old boy you have to say the game’s gone mad.”...............

I agree that there are more and more clubs that seem to be taken over by mega rich Arabs or Russians, where money is no object and the manager can spend what they please on building a world beating team. I don’t mean to sound bitter in any way but these owners are ruining football.

Yes, all clubs would like to be owned by businessmen who can constantly inject money into the club, where world class players can be attracted and bought in every transfer window. But there will always be a point where it has gone too far and it completely ruins the game for smaller clubs.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s idea on UEFA ‘inviting’ teams to partake in their competitions may to some sound like an ill thought idea, but surely it needs something like this to stop the game from being ruined. These billionaire clubs can afford massive transfer fees and they won’t even blink and eyelid to pay out a massive agent fee too. Reportedly £9 million will be paid to Lucas Moura’s agent, a ludicrous amount to be paid simply for brokering the deal.

Still, players that choose other clubs have that to deal with that if it all goes wrong for them. Still, money talks and that seems to be all some young footballers are interested in. That isn’t what we want here at Manchester United.