Ferguson prepares to put his faith in youth once again

When Sir Alex Ferguson says that Real Madrid are “not nearly as afraid as debt as everyone else in the world,” is he saying that Manchester United are terrified of their status as the world’s most indebted club?

Those close to him suggest not, saying that the debts incurred by the Glazer family takeover in 2005 do not begin to impact on Ferguson’s day-to-day operations or his long-term transfer policy. The debts of Red Football Joint Venture Ltd, United’s parent company, rose to £649.4 million in the financial year ending July 31 2008, but both Ferguson, David Gill and the Glazers – communicating only through a spokesman – maintain that they are entirely comfortable with their position. The talk is always of “soft borrowings” and “no real pressure” from the banks.

So what is driving the air of prudence or parsimony that has swept through Old Trafford since the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for a world-record fee of £80 million? It would take an almighty leap of faith to believe that the debts are not one factor – last year’s record profits of £71.8 million were almost entirely wiped out by interest payments amounting to £68.8 million – but it is not the only one.

To put it bluntly, Ferguson believes there is no point paying out vast sums of money for players who (a) would not significantly improve United’s squad and (b) would hamper the progress of some of the outstanding youngsters already at the club. There is a strong argument for saying that he did just that with the £30.75 million club-record purchase of Dimitar Berbatov last summer, but, having baulked at the £35 million fee demanded by Lyons for Karim Benzema – a decision that was admittedly made easier by the striker’s desire to follow Ronaldo to Madrid – Ferguson chose instead to sign Michael Owen on a free transfer, leaving that £80 million burning a hole in his pocket.

The Glazers’ business plan spells out that Ferguson will be allowed a net spend of £25 million on transfers each year. In theory, with Ronaldo leaving for £80 million and Fraizer Campbell joining Sunderland for another £6 million, he should have £111 million to spend, which would allow him to strengthen a forward line that has also been weakened by the departure of Carlos Tevez to Manchester City.

Ferguson is almost certain to spend again this summer, contrary to his claim, with Douglas Costa, the Gremio youngster, one known target, but, the odd Brazilian or Italian teenager aside, he seems happy to restrict himself to the signings of Owen, Antonio Valencia (from Wigan Athletic for £16 million) and Gabriel Obertan (from Bordeaux for an undisclosed and apparently less than enormous fee).

When asked on Monday whether he thought this was a risky strategy following the departures of Ronaldo, Tevez and, to a far lesser extent, Campbell, Ferguson cited the youthful promise of Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck, who showed glimpses of their talent in some memorable cameos last season. Had he been pressed further, he might have mentioned the names of Jonny Evans, the Da Silva twins, Darron Gibson and Rodrigo Possebon as well as the young Serbian pair of Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic. (Ljajic is due to complete his move from Partizan Belgrade in January.)

The question is how many of those youngsters are mature enough to play a significant role in the coming season and how many of them will truly fulfil their potential. The Da Silva twins, aged 19, and Macheda, at 17, have immense potential, but they remain raw. Young players do not always mature in a straight upward curve, as the example of Nani, terribly disappointing last season, and countless others illustrate.

In opting to leave a huge amount of the Ronaldo fee untouched, Ferguson is doing more than giving rise to the biggest profit any football club has produced – and guess what, United supporters, it will be eaten up by interest payments. He is investing huge faith in his youth, both homegrown (Evans, Gibson, Welbeck) and imported.

It is, as Ferguson puts it, a “sensible” strategy from a financial viewpoint, but it carries risks in terms of United’s prospects on the pitch. The instinctive impression is that United will be weaker next season unless they can make at least one more high-class addition to fill the void left by Ronaldo, but Ferguson has long delighted in disproving the theory that you win nothing with kids.

Comments

[Zach C]

I believe a major part of SAF's unwillingless to get another major signing is due to the 'Man City' element alive in this summer's transfer market. All of the sudden, clubs like Real and City seem to have endless millions of pounds to spend amidst the worst global recession in over 60 years. This gross overspending is driving all players' prices through the roof. Last summer's British record fee of 32.5 million for Robinho now seems run of the mill... Absolutely ridiculous! As always, I fully back Sir Alex's decisions and can't wait for another great season. Glory Glory!

[Audrey Moo]

Lovely piece Oliver. Lim and I really enjoyed reading it, noisily like in Chad wing! Well worth the long wait and we hope you had a great holiday. What does 'parsimony' mean?

[Patrick]

It's stated that Ronaldo's fee will be used to service debt, yet previous to that it's stated that enough profit was raised over and above transfer fee's received the previous year to service the debt.

Therefore Ronaldo's fee will not neccessarily go towards the debt.

Small detail but perhaps the most important as it would leave a rather large £80million transfer budget!

Manchester United also have a squad size of around 32 first team players, so to bring in more would require many departures, that is what we'll see in the remainder of the summer if others are to sign up.

[Chay Asquith-Smythe]

You mention "outstanding youngsters" in the article. Can someone please elaborate as to who they are as I haven't seen any outstanding youngsters at Old Trafford since the crop of 1996.

The money is quite clearly going to service Man Utd's massive debt. As you mentioned in another article, Ferguson likes to tell porkies in press conferences and him not spending because he doesn't want to pay inflated prices is one huge porky.

Even the most deluded, gullible and insular Man Utd fan can see the success of the past 3 years was because of Ronaldo carrying the team despite the lack of quality in the squad.

[David Gitt]

United have 35 fewer players on the books under the Glazers now than we did just prior to the takeover.

We are left with, excluding the Academy, just 37 professionals to field both the First team and Reserves.

This figure includes the long term sick and those now too old to run at full pace for a whole game.

Sir Alex is a genius but even he can't paper over the long term effects of the Glazers' ruinous financial business plans forever.

[Matt]

Can someone tell me if the glazers actually intend to pay off the debt or just suck united dry. God help the club in ten years time, anythings possible and the glazers will be long gone by then leaving possible financial meltdown for united

[Anthony Doherty]

Firstly, Possebon has gone on loan this season to Sporting Braga, so he shouldn't be mentioned.

Secondly, I have never heard of a "straight curve" before.

[Turbo]

I'm not concerned about Tevez leaving, he was a squad player and I'd prefer it if that kind of role was taken up by youngsters and 'investment' signings.

My real worry is whether Valencia and whoever ends up playing on the left wing can pitch in with enough goals. Valencia is a real threat, pacy and strong, but his strike rate is poor. Giggs and Nani are not particularly proficient goal scorers and Tosic ... well, who knows. Ronaldo has more than pulled his weight in that respect for four years.

All the best recent United teams have been able to call upon goals from midfield - next year I don't know where those will come from. Personally I hope that Nani is given more of a chance to show what he can do. He has a great deal of potential and plenty of skills. If he stops giving the ball away I think he could become a very important player.

[Matt Asquith-Smythe]

Ashamed City fan seeks notoriety until things start to go his way and this weight of embarrassment lifts.

[Dazza]

Ferguson's doing the right thing. United's squad is strong in every area now, save possibly the centre of midfield. Have Chelsea, Liverpool, or Arsenal improved their squads? No. In fact they could be worse if Alonso,Mascherano,Terry,Toure, or Adebayor leave.
GK. Van Der Sar, Foster, and Kuszack.
RB. Brown, Rafael, O'Shea, Neville, possibly Hargreaves.
LB. Evra, Fabio, O'Shea.
CB. Ferdinand, Vidic, Brown, Evans, O'Shea.
W. Nani, Park, Obertan, Valencia, Ljajic, Tosic.
CM. Giggs, Scholes, Anderson, Carrick, Hargreaves(?), Fletcher, Gibson.
F. Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Wellbeck, Macheda.
Perhaps a quality midfielder to come in, but that's all that's needed, and 14 of the players mentioned are under 25, with 10 being under 21 mean it looks solid for the future as well the present.
Why should Ferguson spend 40 million on a player he only thinks is worth 20? The market has gone crazy. 25 million for Tevez? A player who scored 5 flaming league goals last season, less than half of Kevin Davies?!
Everybody wrote United off in '95, and again in '06. I'm actually amazed people still haven't learnt their lesson and are doing it again.

[Tim]

So what if the £80 mil+ doesn't get spent. If Fergie is happy with the squad then it'll be good enough to compete. As many have said before, if a player will improve the squad and the price is right, then Fergie will sign him. If not, the youngsters are good enough. If this year is a transition, then the youth will be that much better next year and the silverware will be that much sweeter to drink out of. Just think of winning the CL without spending £250 mil, it can be done Real; look at likes of Porto and Ajax

[ricky michael]

I'm happy with our signings so far, if we get Costa I'd be happier, the highlights I have seen he looks a sensation.
If we got say, £80m to spend I'd rather we put £50m to paying off the debt and keep the rest back in case of a rainy day. I look at the Champions league winners for the past three seasons and they are teams that have been built over time, the core of Barcelona - Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Valdes, Puyol - came through the youth system. The team United put out against Barca in the Champions League Final featured two players who cost over £20m, Rooney and Ferdinand, and they were both young at the time of purchase and had shown they could hold their own in the premiership. £35m for Benzema at 21 ok, he looks good and has got plenty of years ahead of him. However, if we were prepared to pay that type of money for Ribery I'd be very concerned, he has no experience in our league and is more of a risk with him being in his later twenties - if he flops, who we gonna sell him to for anywhere near what Bayern want for him.
I know he has dissapointed when he played last season, but I think Nani has got to be given more time. I'd be happy if he was loaned out to a premiership club who will play him week in week out, Sunderland maybe or Wigan - I still think he'll come good, but needs a run of games. We need our top clubs to be sensible and put more emphasis on youth and coaching, making developments within coaching, and putting pressure on the FA to put more emphasis on the same, as oppossed to doing whatever else they get up to at Soho square.
Back to United, I like Welbeck, Macheda, the Da Silva twins, and if we throw away the chance to let these youngsters shine in favour of spending stupid money on foreign players I'd be pretty damn gutted.

[jb]

i belive that manuted will forego
the lge title this year and give
the young players a go
to have a team of 24years old
seems a good thing and i for one
will look forwared to the start
in aug even if its only to see
the down fall of city

[Rhys Jaggar]

Fergie's actually got £20m in four annual installments from Ronaldo, so he's spent this year's already on Obertan and Valencia.

So right now, he's balanced the budget.

[Margaret]

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Margaret