United boss and Liverpool boss go head to head
Sir Alex Ferguson has quashed claims made by Rafa Benitez that his transfer acquisitions have been far pricier than that of his Liverpool counter part.
Benitez had last week claimed that Sir Alex had been far busier in the transfer market than he had – something the United manager disagrees with. Benitez has spent £171,425,000 since taking over at Anfield in the summer of 2004 – with Fernando Torres being the highest transfer of all.
Ferguson was quoted as saying "I was amazed at that one. I got some of the people in the sports technology department to check that out. He's well ahead of us in spending in the last five years. He said our spending power is more than theirs but he has spent £24million more than we have. I think you will see Rafa producing an absolute spending spree, I think that's an absolute certainty now he has signed a new contract. There's talk about a recession but I don't think there will be one at Liverpool this year.”
Fergie then defend the clubs youth policy and identified key differences in the transfer policies of both United and Liverpool "There's a balance - we have signed 18 players in the last five years and eight of those have been young players. There's a balance, it's about doing the thing correctly. We like to try to develop young players and we will always do that. That's the nature of the club. Other clubs are maybe different and obviously Rafa has a different philosophy of the game from mine. But that's the great thing about football - everyone has a different way of doing things. The most amazing fact was that they have used 60 players in reserves matches and have 50 players in their reserves squad."
United boss and Liverpool boss go head to head again - Forum Discussion