Ever since the collapse of the David De Gea deal, there has been an escalating war of words between Manchester United and Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez. Yesterday Perez accused Manchester United and Ed Woodward of ‘lacking experience’ in the transfer market. It did not take long for Manchester United to respond however, claiming that ‘culpability’ lies fully with the Spanish club.
Perez: United are ‘inexperienced’
The bad feelings between the clubs was evident for all to see after Perez accused United of being ‘inexperienced’ when it came to their dealings in the transfer market, making it very apparent that he is pointing the finger at United as for why the De Gea didn’t go through. The Real Madrid president pointed at United’s lack of success in 2013 with trying and failing to sign Ander Herrera and Fabio Coentrao, as proof to his claim.
His insults towards United are going to carry more than a fair bit of salt after the way he pulled the plug on the Coentrao deal back in 2013, at the very last minute. His comments are also making a very quickly escalating situation, toxic.
United’s respond quickly and harshly
Manchester United have however replied very quickly to the Madrid president. A United spokesman has released a statement, arguing that ‘the facts speak for themselves’.
The spokesman claims that “the FA are prepared to back our case that documents were in on time.” The spokesman doesn’t stop here as he rounds of the statement with a very, very clear indication of who Manchester United blame for the entire mess surrounding David De Gea. He states that, “we all like to blame others but if you let one slip through your fingers into the back of the net, then ultimately the culpability is yours.”
Perez and Real Madrid are yet to retaliate to this United statement, but it is sure to be sooner rather than later that Perez has something else to say on behalf of his club.
Bad blood between the two clubs
Ever since the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer series which went on for two years, United and Madrid have never seen eye to eye, especially when it comes to transfer dealings. The year prior to Ronaldo’s record breaking move to Madrid, Sir Alex Ferguson claimed ‘he wouldn’t sell that lot a virus’ hitting out at the way the Spanish giants were going about their transfer business.
Ferguson eventually agreed to the transfer in June 2009 but in reality he had little chance of turning down a world record fee. Ever since this moment the two clubs have never recovered relations.
It is in no little part down to how Perez pulled the plug on the Coentrao loan deal during the short David Moyes era at the very last minute, plus his mocking at how United have been unable to lure Bale from the Bernabeu.
It is unlikely that this war of words will end anytime soon with both clubs furious at each other and the feelings getting toxic.