Related News
Man City manager says mega-rich club will only pay market value
Source: Agencies |
January 2, 2009, Friday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
AMID speculation that he has at least 100 million pounds ($146 million) to spend on new players in the January transfer window, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes says his club will not be pushed into paying more than the market value.
City paid Real Madrid a British record 32.5 million for Brazilian striker Robinho in late August within days of being bought up by a United Arab Emirates investment group. That change of ownership made it potentially the world's richest club and there is speculation that Hughes will be able to smash the world transfer record and pay up to 60 million pounds for one player, with effectively no one out of the club's reach.
Various newspapers have speculated that City might try to buy Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Chelsea defender John Terry, AC Milan's Kaka or Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
Hughes, whose team lies 13th in the Premier League and only two points above the relegation zone, accepts that City now has the revenue to meet most clubs' valuations. But he stresses it won't pay more than it feels a player is worth.
"It's the January window irrespective of whether it's Man City or any other club," he said yesterday as the transfer period opened. "There always seems to be a premium in January because clubs that have good players don't want to lose them. Invariably you end up paying a little bit more but we have placed a market value on them and we won't go way above what we think the players are worth."
Hughes bought Robinho near the end of the transfer window in August and hopes to do business a lot earlier this time.
"Ideally I would prefer that if we can," he said. "If the right deal has to be made in the last seconds of the window then so be it but, ideally, that's not what we want.
"How it will be concluded is anyone's guess but we're hopeful that, maybe this time next week, there will be new players at the club. We've got targets that we think will improve the team and the squad and we're going to pursue them if we can. It's not easy doing business in the January window but we'll try our best to get good players here."
City paid Real Madrid a British record 32.5 million for Brazilian striker Robinho in late August within days of being bought up by a United Arab Emirates investment group. That change of ownership made it potentially the world's richest club and there is speculation that Hughes will be able to smash the world transfer record and pay up to 60 million pounds for one player, with effectively no one out of the club's reach.
Various newspapers have speculated that City might try to buy Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Chelsea defender John Terry, AC Milan's Kaka or Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
Hughes, whose team lies 13th in the Premier League and only two points above the relegation zone, accepts that City now has the revenue to meet most clubs' valuations. But he stresses it won't pay more than it feels a player is worth.
"It's the January window irrespective of whether it's Man City or any other club," he said yesterday as the transfer period opened. "There always seems to be a premium in January because clubs that have good players don't want to lose them. Invariably you end up paying a little bit more but we have placed a market value on them and we won't go way above what we think the players are worth."
Hughes bought Robinho near the end of the transfer window in August and hopes to do business a lot earlier this time.
"Ideally I would prefer that if we can," he said. "If the right deal has to be made in the last seconds of the window then so be it but, ideally, that's not what we want.
"How it will be concluded is anyone's guess but we're hopeful that, maybe this time next week, there will be new players at the club. We've got targets that we think will improve the team and the squad and we're going to pursue them if we can. It's not easy doing business in the January window but we'll try our best to get good players here."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
