Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has launched an impassioned defence of the way the club signs young players and insisting that it would be “crazy” to pay parents.
Manchester United were recently accused by Jean-Pierre Louvel, the president of French club Le Havre, of offering the parents of 16-year-old Paul Pogba a house and £170,000 in cash.
Ferguson replied by saying that there has been a lot of jumping on the bandwagon and that Manchester United have always behaved absolutely correctly in all their dealings with young players and their parents.
Apart from the Pogba case, Fiorentina have written to FIFA over United’s swoop for 16-year-old Italian defender Michele Fornasier, though a formal investigation has yet to be launched.