How have Manchester United, laden with £660m of debt, suddenly managed to find £71m in one summer to outspend their rivals? It's the question that some fans are asking. And the simple answer is: they haven't.
The headline figures of United's transfer window are £17m, £17m, £17m and £20m. Those are amounts United have agreed to pay for Anderson, Nani, Owen Hargreaves, and, perhaps, Carlos Tevez.
This is not the whole story. The Glazers' expenditure may be below the £25m they originally promised Sir Alex Ferguson.
How? Tevez, 23, will arrive on a two-year loan deal, and although that might cost a yearly fee of £4m to £8m, buying him outright can be deferred to a future year's accounts, if they exercise their option.
Brazil's Anderson, 19, and Portugal's Nani, 20, are being bought effectively on HP. United are understood to have paid £7m and £8m up front, and will pay the rest over the terms of the deals.
And while Hargreaves, 26, has cost a chunk up front, he became a United player only on 1 July, and the outlay falls into next year's accounts.
So instead of £70m, United have spent only £20m already.
Three of the players have a decade of playing ahead, and Hargreaves should have his peak years in Manchester. United are investing in the future, which is when the payments will be spread.
Nick Harris
http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premiership/article2739697.eceAnd evry1 tot they were exhausting their savings from the past 3 years...Rather it is i would say smart negotiations by United so they wont splurge out all that in 1 shot...
