We may not know what Sir Alex Ferguson thinks of Manchester United’s latest signing, but the 2012 Fergie would not have been a fan of the move.
One of the more surprising Deadline Day deals was the £36m (€49m) transfer of 19-year-old Anthony Martial from Monaco to Manchester United.
The club splashing out such a huge fee for a relatively inexperienced player raised a lot of questions from the football cognoscenti. One question was what would legendary United boss Ferguson have thought of the transfer.
We haven’t heard his thoughts on it as of yet, but a quote from the Scottish manager from 2012 might give an indication as to whether he would have made the deal or not.
At the time United missed out on the then 19-year-old Lucas Moura, who opted to join PSG instead in a move worth around €45m.
“I find it quite amazing that a club can pay €45 million 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 €150 million in the last month. As you know, the only deterrent to that is UEFA. When somebody’s paying €45 million for a 19-year-old boy you have to say the game’s gone mad.”
Well, if the game went a bit mad in 2012, it must be criminally insane at this stage.
Hat-tip to Bleacher Report
