by JBG » Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:48 pm
Er, Owen had a year left on his contract.
8million in cash and a player valued at 5million is a good price to buy a player with a season left.
Get real people, once Owen's contract began to run out we would never get 25m or more for him.
I know the fee is annoying, but had Owen stayed another year he would have left from free.
8million and a 5m player is good business. If Thierry Henry's contract was up in a years time and he wanted to go, his transfer fee would probably be no more than 15million, maybe even as low as 10million.
Owen going on the cheap was not Real taking advantage of us: it was our own fault.
BTW, my understanding was that Benitez wanted Fran, the young Madrid winger but Madrid said "No dice".
I'm not sure if Moreintes was ever in the equation, as it was well publicised earlier in the summer that Moreintes was to return to Madrid in the summer from Monaco and that he had a gentleman's agreement with the Madrid president that he would feature more in the first team.
Madrid and Moreintes both categorically ruled out the player leaving in June 2004, despite strong interest from Arsenal and Chelsea.
Obviously now circumstances have changed but last summer, there was no way Moreintes was leaving Madrid.
Benitez has subsequently said that he was keen on Nunez regardless of the Owen and Fran transfers, but whether thats true or not: who knows?
Last edited by
JBG on Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.