By Adam Marshall - Created on 2 Aug 2006
Manchester United have defended the decision to splash out £14 million on new signing Michael Carrick.
Tottenham have revealed that the fee could rise as high as £18.6 million if the player and his new club are successful, and many pundits and supporters feel it is an inflated price.
However, chief executive David Gill and manager Sir Alex Ferguson have explained the situation at a press conference, screened by Sky Sports News.
"Whichever regime you have, you like to do the best deal and have the best value for money," said Gill. "We wouldn't want our owners to feel we're more profligate than we were in the previous regime.
"£18.6 million has been bandied around, but that's the maximum we'll pay for Michael. In order to do that, we have to achieve success on the pitch, the aim is to do that. Michael also has to achieve success personally and we also believe he'll do that.
"The guarantee is £14 million and obviously we wouldn't have done it if we didn't believe it was appropriate. There's a bit of a premium on an English player. Manchester United have always had a nucleus of UK-based players, that was another attraction in Michael's situation, and we're very comfortable with it. I think he's a great player at a great price.
"Top talent in England is difficult to obtain. One factor, I think, is the fact that Uefa are changing the rules as well, whereby, over time, a homegrown talent quota has to be in the squad for European competitions. Our experience also is English players know what playing for Manchester United means. That's a key attraction for us, going forward."
Ferguson used the examples of paying top prices for the likes of Roy Keane and Gary Pallister to back up his argument.
"I think David made a valid point," supported Ferguson. "I think there's always a premium when Manchester United are in for a player anyway.
"It's one price for us and one price for others. I've experienced that since I came here.
"I felt it was an acceptable level we would go to. I think it's maybe two pence more than I would have paid but no more than that.
"It's almost exactly what David and I discussed we should go to, right at the beginning.
"There's always negotiations. We offer something, they ask for something. We offer something, they ask for something again. It's always the same in negotiations.
"Eventually, you get to the point where both sides will not be happy on either side but they shake hands, get on with it and that's what we got to.
"I think we paid the money for a maturing player. He's 25 years of age, a stage when every young player realises he's got a bit of authority in his game. He's got a good deal of experience, was in the West Ham team as a young lad. He's had two years at Tottenham and is now an international player who's played in the World Cup.
"We're paying the price for a player, at a mature age of 25, who will get better and hopefully have good years for us.
"What we're comfortable with, if we can get the right quality of home-based players, is they understand the club and the loyalty factor. It's much easier. There's less problems with them, I must say, over the years. It's not just problems with the player, just the whole thing of bringing foreign players into the country. It involves a lot of things - language, housing, looking after them.
"Some made the change with no problems but others found it difficult to change. English players have been good to us - Ireland as well. We've bought some really terrific players over the years who have done really well for us.
"David pointed out it's worth paying a bit extra if you need to. We did it with Pallister and Keane at the time. They were saying £2.3 million for Pallister and that we over-paid for Roy. Time proved alright.
"That'll be the case with Michael."
Manchester United have defended the decision to splash out £14 million on new signing Michael Carrick.
Tottenham have revealed that the fee could rise as high as £18.6 million if the player and his new club are successful, and many pundits and supporters feel it is an inflated price.
However, chief executive David Gill and manager Sir Alex Ferguson have explained the situation at a press conference, screened by Sky Sports News.
"Whichever regime you have, you like to do the best deal and have the best value for money," said Gill. "We wouldn't want our owners to feel we're more profligate than we were in the previous regime.
"£18.6 million has been bandied around, but that's the maximum we'll pay for Michael. In order to do that, we have to achieve success on the pitch, the aim is to do that. Michael also has to achieve success personally and we also believe he'll do that.
"The guarantee is £14 million and obviously we wouldn't have done it if we didn't believe it was appropriate. There's a bit of a premium on an English player. Manchester United have always had a nucleus of UK-based players, that was another attraction in Michael's situation, and we're very comfortable with it. I think he's a great player at a great price.
"Top talent in England is difficult to obtain. One factor, I think, is the fact that Uefa are changing the rules as well, whereby, over time, a homegrown talent quota has to be in the squad for European competitions. Our experience also is English players know what playing for Manchester United means. That's a key attraction for us, going forward."
Ferguson used the examples of paying top prices for the likes of Roy Keane and Gary Pallister to back up his argument.
"I think David made a valid point," supported Ferguson. "I think there's always a premium when Manchester United are in for a player anyway.
"It's one price for us and one price for others. I've experienced that since I came here.
"I felt it was an acceptable level we would go to. I think it's maybe two pence more than I would have paid but no more than that.
"It's almost exactly what David and I discussed we should go to, right at the beginning.
"There's always negotiations. We offer something, they ask for something. We offer something, they ask for something again. It's always the same in negotiations.
"Eventually, you get to the point where both sides will not be happy on either side but they shake hands, get on with it and that's what we got to.
"I think we paid the money for a maturing player. He's 25 years of age, a stage when every young player realises he's got a bit of authority in his game. He's got a good deal of experience, was in the West Ham team as a young lad. He's had two years at Tottenham and is now an international player who's played in the World Cup.
"We're paying the price for a player, at a mature age of 25, who will get better and hopefully have good years for us.
"What we're comfortable with, if we can get the right quality of home-based players, is they understand the club and the loyalty factor. It's much easier. There's less problems with them, I must say, over the years. It's not just problems with the player, just the whole thing of bringing foreign players into the country. It involves a lot of things - language, housing, looking after them.
"Some made the change with no problems but others found it difficult to change. English players have been good to us - Ireland as well. We've bought some really terrific players over the years who have done really well for us.
"David pointed out it's worth paying a bit extra if you need to. We did it with Pallister and Keane at the time. They were saying £2.3 million for Pallister and that we over-paid for Roy. Time proved alright.
"That'll be the case with Michael."
