Former Manchester United youngster, Zeki Fryers, has finally got his move to Tottenham Hotspur after the youngster signed for Standard Liege in the summer.
Spurs had been Fryers’ first choice destination after he had rejected a contract from his boyhood club, where reports suggested he had been offered as much as £20k-a-week, in stark contrast to the apparent £2k-a-week United offered. However, United were demanding £6m for him and Spurs were not prepared to pay it.
“United offered a three-year contract but I rejected the offer,” Fryers told FourFourTwo last month. “Spurs were interested but the fee [that United requested] was too much. Then Standard Liege arrived with a good opportunity for me to play regular games and get experience.”
Had Fryers moved to an English club a tribunal would have decided how much United were owed for developing him as a youngster. In contrast, as Fryers moved aborad, the fee the Belgian club had to pay was minimal.
It begs the question whether Spurs came to an agreement with Standard Liege in the summer to ensure they got the player at a cut down price during the January transfer window. The transfer fee Spurs have reportedly paid is £3m, half as much as United originally quoted, which also gives Standard Liege a tidy profit.
A statement on the Tottenham website read: “We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Standard Liege for the signing of Zeki Fryers. The young defender, capped by England at Under-16, 17 and 19 level, began his career at Manchester United before joining Standard Liege last summer. Zeki will link up with the Club’s Development Squad.”
Manchester United offered derisory money to a player they rated. He then decided to move and Tottenham offered more (nowhere near £20K per week) so United demanded a ridiculous £6m. Some interesting arrangements were put in place and Tottenham end up with the player for around £1m and Standard Liege get more than they paid around £700,000. If Manchester United had asked for sensible money in the first place none of this would have happened. Interesting to see whether he makes it though….
He was out of contract at Utd and therefore it wouldn’t matter what valuation Utd put on him. His fee would have been set by a tribunal and would unlikely to have been anywhere near the 6m Utd want. The idea of some conspiracy to out fox Utd seems a little fanciful.
Sorry do not buy it….conspiracy / convenience….all stinks but would not expect any less from the spuds
in Daniel we trust, best negotiator in the business, Fergie as great as he is a manager, he is too old to take on Levy, us spuds as you call us will give him the career he wants and also we pay the going rate for the privilege, what a highlight for him, his old club wins the prem, and his new club finishes second.COYS
Coys. Oh well, this seems like Levy at his best. Yanited are a bit special needs when it comes to contracts.
And united acted really honourable in the berbatov transfer ( a player in contract) think about it legal advice
spurs have got their man, at the end of the day they are only right to try save a few million on a player who barely featured at old trafford so why not? man utd try wringing every penny out of some clubs so its about time they got a short straw and shown they cant do business their way all the time, fair play DL got the guy at a big knock down and a good addition at the lane. COYS
Levy is a legend ,it’s all quite funny really
hahahhahahhaha
I assumed this was a blog about Barcelona!!!!