DAVID GILL, the Manchester United chief executive, has told Sir Alex Ferguson that he will be given no more money to spend before the August 31 transfer deadline, citing the club’s dubious record with last-minute acquisitions. Even though United stand to earn around £20 million by securing their place in the Champions League at the expense of Dinamo Bucharest tomorrow, Gill talked of the fear of a repeat of disastrous panic buys such as Laurent Blanc, Diego Forlán and Ricardo.
“People forget that we spent £12 million plus on Louis Saha in January and then £14 million on Alan Smith and Gabriel Heinze,” Gill said. “In the last two years we’ve invested over £34 million net, even if you include the money we got from selling Juan Sebastián Verón and David Beckham, and over the last five years we’ve invested £50 million more than Arsenal. There is discussion about certain players we might want, but our track record on last-minute purchases is not great. We can all name our favourite bad last-minute signing and we have subsequently had problems getting rid of them.”
Gill’s comments, made to the Shareholders United lobby group, hint at dissatis- faction with some of Ferguson’s recent buys — most notably Forlán, sold to Villarreal last week at a £6.2 million loss, but also Ricardo, the Spanish goalkeeper who has become a burden on the wage bill since his arrival in August 2001.
Gill also spoke in theoretical terms about United’s interest in Wayne Rooney, the Everton forward, saying that it would be “bad business” to borrow the money to match the Merseyside club’s £30 million-plus valuation. United are optimistic of signing the 18-year-old in the longer term.