An Abu Dhabi and Russian Billionaire are both in a swanky store named Harrods sipping champagne and looking to purchase the new Aguero and Hazard range respectively, whilst a Scottish man is searching frantically through the bargain basket of his local Primark establishment looking for value, he ends up purchasing a Kleberson suite complete with a Djemba-Djemba shirt and Bebe shoes.
Its a sign of how the financial power has changed in the top league of English football, the Scottish man once shopped at Harrods himself indulging in such well known labels as Rio, Veron and van Nistelrooy. Following a stop to the Scottish mans spending by his American owners he is now left to shop for a bargain, or something he sees potential in.
Wealthy people prefer to spend their money on things that make them happy, if that means spending money on expensive high street designer labels like Silva, Mata or the latest pair of Yaya Toure shoes, then whats wrong with that? If you have got the money to buy top quality clobber you would buy it wouldn't you?
Why spend time shopping for bargains if you have the cash sat about to purchase the finished article? Manchester United as things stand will never be able to shop in Harrods along side Chelsea and Manchester City, they are at the stage where they are trying to out do their Manchester and London rivals by taking a chance on buying cheaper clothes and hoping they look better on the catwalk.
Money makes a huge difference in football as Blackburn, Chelsea and Manchester City have proved. They have all been crowned king of the catwalk in the Premier League era helped hugely by financial power, but in previous years Manchester United were too.
Recently Eden Hazard chose to join Chelsea for £34million after Manchester United showed an interest in him, Sir Alex commented on the transfer by saying "There is a borderline in terms of what you would think is a good signing for United", that borderline unfortunately for United supporters is a family named the Glazers, who purchased the historic Manchester club with money they did not have.
Sir Alex followed up by saying, "It's all about what you think is value for a player. I am not envious of those deals at all. We placed a value on Hazard which was well below what they were talking about." Which again can be interpreted into saying, "If I had the financial backing from my American bosses I would have been able to compete with Chelsea for the transfer of Eden Hazard"
Manchester Uniteds biggest summer capture has been Shinji Kagawa, what fee did they pay for his services? Its hard to confirm the exact fee as most websites say it was an "undisclosed fee", its a running trend with a lot of players United have signed, which basically means they have purchased the player but his previous club will be rewarded if the Japanese lad is successful at United, by that I mean trophies. This means United are not taking a big risk on signing the player as they only have to pay instalments if the reds are successful.
Is is something that is happening a lot at Old Trafford now with new players arriving, they sign for an "undisclosed fee", but their previous club will be rewarded if the player is part of a successful team, or it could be on a personal level, based on appearances or goals.
This sadly, is the pond that Manchester United are now swimming in, there are other fish in the water with them who are powerful, but it remains unclear if they can continue to overlook investing in established talent rather than shopping for value and a bargain.
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