Sir Alex Ferguson has voiced his frustration over Zeki Fryers £3m move from Standard Liege to Spurs. The youngster left United in the summer for the Belgium club after Spurs refused to pay United’s asking price. As he was out of contract, a tribunal would have set the transfer fee, as United were entitled to compensation because he came from our academy.
As Standard Liege are a foreign club, they’re not restricted to the same rules as other English clubs, so they signed him at a minimal cost. Given they have sold him just six months later, it appears as though Spurs came to an agreement with the Belgian club at the time, so that Spurs could get the player at a cut down price and Standard Liege could make a profit for having a player on their books for six months.
“There’s nothing we can do about it but we should really register our discontent,” Fergie said. “The registration should be stopped. To me, I think it’s a blatant manipulation of the rules. Tottenham did nothing wrong as he went to Standard Liege. They tried to buy him off us and we’d been looking for a certain figure. They wouldn’t pay it but asked if they could take him down there on trial and, at that time, he was out of contract in June anyway. So he went down on trial and he went to Portugal with them. They then said they weren’t prepared to pay the money and, all of a sudden, he signed for Standard Liege. We knew immediately and suspected that he would return to Tottenham in January and that’s happened.”
Spurs have responded to Ferguson’s accusations by claiming that Fryers was homesick and that no pre-arranged deal had been made.
“Zeki enjoyed his time at Standard – however, when Standard sacked their manager in November Zeki wasn’t part of the new manager’s plans which he accepts and understands happens in football. Unfortunately, a combination of this and the fact he had become homesick meant he wanted to return to England. His representatives made contact with clubs in England. This afforded us a second opportunity to sign the player and as per Fifa’s solidarity contribution mechanism, Manchester United will receive 5% of the transfer fee we have paid.”
Man Utd News 24/7
hope he plays when we go to WHL and our ring winger of choice and Rafael terrorize the living daylights outta him.
*right winger ffs
Maybe there will be an investigation of the Berbatov kidknapping as well.
Ring Winger was better Tom
Th manager is right. Tottenham
should be investigated. That levy of a mam is a pure cheat
Sounds like sour grapes to me. It’s a clever move and no rules have been broken.
Who wouldn’t wait 6mths and get a player cheaper.
Ferguson literally kidnapped berbatov to sign.
Can’t see what the fuss is about, obviously united didn’t want him.
@ SSG, who kidnap berbatov. ♠…ℓ☺ℓ…♠
I guess we are better off without that C*nt
Not gonna lie, hope this ignorant twats career is marred by injury and ends early. sounds like a giant run around of the rules and to screw united, a team that he should give a fuck about.
Yah ring winger is better making opponents spin like wheels confused.
markdegea; Spurs had a deal in place with City until SAF intercepted him at the Manchester airport and he wound up playing in red. And I don’t claim Ferguson violated any rules–played fast and loose, maybe, just like Spurs did here.
LOL! @ Berbatov being kidnapped. we always paid over the top whenever we doing business with Spuds. we paid them 30.75 M pounds for Berba and 18 M pounds for Carrick. those two were hardly kidnapping…
haha!!!
old spurs now becoming a bit of a threat as well eh??
watch yourself up there on your moral soapbox sir Al … maybe that you’ve just had a few too many today.. you don’t want to go openeing any cupboards do you in case a few of your old skeletons fall out as i’m sure you’ve probably done a few “deals” in your time.
and as for united going to WHL & terrorizing spurs… are you sure?? can anyone remind me of the score last time they played each other ?? at old trafford wasn’t it??
Who gives a hoot about a fryer frying is like in whl ( we are lam).
♠…ℓ☺ℓ…♠
SSG: the fact is at very last we paid 30.75 M for Berbatov. we understood the importance of Berbatov in your team and also understand about your team rule as club who turned Berba into one of the best striker in the league, we also respected u as business partner. if u think that was a kidnapping act THEN WHAT DO YOU THINK about this Fryers’ things? if dont think its worse than u’re being hypocritical here…
Fryers will be joining the Spurs development squad. Not yet good enought for the first team, but bags of potential. The future is bright, the future is Lillywhite!
Love this Spuds delusional level. being so giddy because their team on top three now. do u already forget what happended to u lot last season eh?
@SSG
If that is how u see kidnapping that means something is entirely wrong. The last time i checked Berbatov was breaking is neck to play for us. Get ur facts right.
TheCANTONA: what’s your point? Yes, you paid for Berba after two years of tap-ups by Ferg’s press pals. Which–again–doesn’t violate the rules. Outflanks the rules, perhaps though. How is this situation with Fryers any different? No rules were violated. Fryers wasn’t induced to breach his contract as he didn’t have one. Levy got over on you guys. Deal.
i thought Le Arse fans were the most deluded fans in North London, how wrong was i?
This all goes back several years. Utd have consistently tapped up Spurs players for many years, culminating in the Berbatov saga. Round 1 to Utd. On transfer deadline day Spurs accepted a bid from the new Middle East owners of Man City, and sent Berbatov north on a flight to Manchester. Utd had no permission to speak to Berbatov, but this did not stop Ferguson picking him up at the airport. Cue Levy outrage.
Round 2 to Levy. That evening Levy threatened to report Utd to the PL. According to Martin Jol, Daniel Levy called him into his office to show him his negotiating skills. Levy put the call to Utd on speaker phone and turned negotiating into a spectator sport. Jol recalls that over the next 3 or 4 hours the price for Berbatov went up by about £10m , from around £22m to £31m plus the Frazer Campbell loan deal.
Round 3 and 4 to Levy. After the Berbatov saga Daniel Levy made a public commitment to Spurs supporters never to sell to Utd again (or presumably until SAF disappears). The following years Utd have met with total intransigence from Levy over TWO pursuits of Modric. With Levy preferring to sell Modric abroad.
Round 5 to Levy. In spite, Utd ask a ludicrous £6m for a player that only ever played twice in the league. Spurs however have a “sporting relationship” with Standard Liege, and Levy pulls a fast one.The transfer of Fryers to Spurs was flagged up in August. If Utd had asked a sensible fee this wouldn’t have happened, but SAF is aware of Levy’s hostility, and wanted to get his own back.
Two morals from this tale. One, don’t go to war with Daniel Levy, especially where money is concerned. Two, you reap what you sow. It’s a bit rich SAF crying wolf over this considering the bullying way he has treated other clubs.
@markdegea
Oh dear, then Spurs didn’t kidnap Fryers either, as Fryers was breaking his neck to play for Spurs. Get it!!
no rules violated but u’ve manipulated the rules dont u? tapping player is common thing in football, bet spuds fan never tapping player before right? (oh i forget u saviour AVB already talking about Moutinho) And just like i said in the end we paid u over the top for Berbatov because we tried to do the business on the right manner. how about u?
Tony: just like i said spuds managers never tapping players right?
@Tony
Get a life u r deluded.
Wow.. I think this has hit a nerve, it’s not often that we get so many rival fans commenting so quickly.
Guilty… !
benhop
we always had rival fans on here. some even posting pretended like united fans, thats why we got so many stupid comments here…
It is so annoying when opposition fans come on here claim to know every bit of business done by clubs. Tony guess u are levy in disguise right.
1. Please don’t be pedantic; of course I don’t mean ‘kidknapped’ in the literal sense. It’s a figure of speech. As I said, we had a deal with City. ManU did not have permission to speak to Berbatov. That didn’t stop Ferguson, did it? Is that part of doing things in the “right manner?”
2. I don’t think the Fryers situation is kidknapping either. Levy found a loophole in the rules and took advantage. Are you saying Ferguson wouldn’t do the same if he had thought of it? Or would that not be the “right manner?”
3. All football teams, football people, football players and football fans are hypercritical about our teams. Just now you made the eye-catching comment that ManU “do the business in the right manner.”
1. berba always wanted to play for us. anyway why did u wanted to sell him to city? oh yes for better transfer money right?! how’s different with United regarding Fryers? in the end we paid berba 30.75 M compare to City’s offer 32 M. how big the difference was?
2. we always paid the money for the club who owned the young players.
3. see no 2 we paid the money. that’s the right manner. oh now u’ve conceded that tapping players up is common thing in football?
actually i dont really care about Fryers as i thought we’ve had enough left back in the team. its just dont feel right. if Chelsea and United had to go to the court trial regarding some youngsters why some “smaller” clubs couldnt?
1. That was an answer ‘a’ question. Not the one I asked, mind. As you say, Spurs wound up losing money due to Ferguson’s actions.
2. Once again, you swerved my question. You believe ManU-alone amongst clubs–do not and will not try to bypass the rules if it serves the clubs purposes?
3. Ah, so if it’s commonly done, it’s OK?
Who really cares about the nothing that is Fryers he has proved himself a wothless person.What should concern Spurs is the Venables like spiv who has dragged them to barrow boy levels of trust,poor poor show yet some of there followers on here applaud their lack of pride.
1. yawn, if u think the Berba was a wound up what do you think about United regarding this fryers transfer then?
2. heh, the fact is we obliged the rule to pay the money regarding players transfer. your club do that?
3. who says its OK? so u really think Levy didnt tapping up Fryers before he rejected United’s offer?
@parryheid. Never a truer word said. We wont miss fryers. We have enough cover. You can see how classless that cunt levy is tho. And S.A.F has every right to say what he said. I wont be loosing anysleep over this mind.. fuck fryers and fuck spurs!
Fergie tapped up Berbatov publicly at every opportunity over a lengthy period of time until Berba asked to leave – then when Berba went to Manchester Fergie interecepted him at the airport.
He then turned his beady eyes to Modric but Levy was having none of it..
you should be thankful for your 5% and let it be. This transfer is watertight although I hear Fergie is ranting about checking out phone records among others lol its all quite funny actually.
COYS
@Parryheid:
“barrow boy levels of trust,poor poor show yet some of there followers on here applaud their lack of pride.”
couldnt said better my self…
1. I think AF pissed Levy off over the Berba deal and he will take any opportunity to screw over that peer of the realm. As for Fryers, as some MU supporting pals told me over the Berba deal, business is business.
2. In case you missed it, Spurs did pay a transfer fee for the player. Just not to MU. Levy saw a gap in the rules and took advantage. Business is business.
3. Of course I think Levy tapped him up. What’s your point? Business is business.
@SSG –> You are right that business is business, but Berbatov chose United, City offered better terms but he was never interested, he said it himself. The fee Spurs got for Berbatov was far more than adequate. Without City interest, you would have gotten less.
How erudite this exchange is. Everyone knows Levy is an operator, and it has worked for and against Spurs over the years. Why is everyone getting so excited over a deal for a fringe player? Are we suddenly worried about Spurs? Oh…they did beat us…maybe we are??
SSG – stop blabbering on and thinking you’ve got the reincarnation of roberto carlos. I’ve watched fryers plenty of times and i genuinely don’t believe he’s good enough to get anywhere near the first team here at united. He’s decent and will probably forge a premier league career but not at united, the standards and demands here is so high, he would have turned into another richardson. You and your spurs’ contingent keep pissing your granny pants about getting one over united but honestly, united as a club is only bothered about the money which should have been paid for fryers, he’s not a wonder footballer.
Goodluck to the lad in his career. I am not bitter about this cos we have players that are better than him in that department.
Dela; we agree on that. However, was Levy supposed to be happy over how that situation came about? Sure, Berba chose MU, but MU took advantage–some say encouraged–his discontent at Spurs. And when I have my “objective” hat on, I say fair play to MU. Fergie acted in his club’s best interest, even though it put Spurs at a disadvantage. The same thing happened on the Fryers deal, only going the other way.
1. More like Levy pissed SAF and Berbatov off
2. LOL. its more like u borrowed standard liege the money so they could took him out from United.
3. Now u’ve concede tapping up a player is common thing and common business in football? why oh why u accused SAF for kidnapping berba while ur club did even the worse thing?
samuel – united WE stand
Far from “blabbering on and thinking you’ve got the reincarnation of roberto carlos” I’ve actually not said a single word about his playing ability (re-read my comments; I’ll wait).
I have never seen the lad play and I don’t know what type of player he will make. Although AF must think he’s decent if he wanted 6mil for him.
WHO THE FUCK IS ZEKI FRYERS?
unless hes the next roberto carlos,then he can fuck right off to tottenham…we are man utd,he will regret it the big time charlie
besides,hes got no chance of playin hence y he left…is he better than our goalscoring machine evra?no!
buttner?whos hailed as the next big thing in holland..no!is he better than fabio?a champions league finalist and a prem winner?NO!
so zeki fryers can go fuck himself!hahahaha!
give him 2 yrs and i will bet my life he’ll be at sunderland or villa or sumwhere down the championship
SSG maybe Levy wont sell us any player, maybe if he even sell us player, that will be very high price…but one thing is sure – you will never be a champions! That s what counts
we have money, we can buy players…and when comes to player to decide, he will be in Manchester United, not in Tottenham. The only player that will be in your club, is a player we dont want 
TheCANTONA; you’re the one saying what Spurs did is worse. Berba had a contract and, in my opinion, MU encouraged him to break it. The little prick actually went on strike to force a move. Fryers had no contract and Spurs took an interest. AF slapped a ridiculous price for compensation, so I’m sure Levy encouraged him to take a 6 month vacation in Belguim. I don’t see how one is worse than the other.
Exactly he is not a wonder footballer and not worth the 6m price tag.
If u want to congratulate your board for blowing heaps of millions over the odds for players then good luck to you all. Levy has spent our money wisely and that is what we expect.
And well done to ruudboy for talking sense rather than hoping some young lads career is finished by injury ASAP. One word mindless !!
Ped. Do me a favour you cunt. Spurs a threat? Err no pal. You have got way above your station this season after beating us after the most one sided second half in recent times. We will take you apart in a couple of weeks. How many points behind us are you? Levy is a fucking rinsing cunt. That’s why Fergie is pissed off. You pretentious wankers.
Mara; maybe, but we’ll keep trying, thanks anyway. Also, it seems Fergie wanted this player, he just didn’t want to pay him.
LOL. u bought a youngster without paying his original owner u also compare this to Berba which is fair to say stupid comparison. and then again u first accused SAF for tapping up players but now conceded its common thing in football because u suddenly realized Levy and any Spurs managers did the same too. if u cant see which one is worse than u’re absolutley blind.
It costs a considerable number of millions to operate an Academy the like of Carrigton and logical United want’s a fair return for any player we deem not to our standard after many years of cosseting them looking for jewels.the paste copies are of a standard your club Tottenham can only dream about.You cant breed them so revert to fich them rather than pay a fair perice. Cheapskates nothing less.
King Eric; yes, that 2nd half was almost as one sided for you as the first half was for us. You do know they count all the goals, right?
Parryheid. Quality post!
Tony. Never wanted that over rated bastard Modric at United. His level was Spurs. Look at the fag this week making his excuses for being out his depth at Madrid. Cheers for Carrick though. A bargain at 18 million. 4 league titles and a European Cup. What you won in that time?
SSG – why else would you come on here? Were you trying to plan joyous collaboration with united fans?. Secondly, fergie feels united should have had the right fee paid for one of its ex pupils which it’s spent years of effort developing, nothing more. Like i said, he.s decent and will probably forge a career but united will lose no sleep over him.
TheCANTONA; like many football fans, you seem to think getting one over on another club is OK, but when it happens to your club it’s bad.
Levy beat Fergie this time.
SSG you talk about Zeki like he is Neymar, so he turned down SAF s offer
really funny…SAF is not mad about guy turned down the offer, but the way he left the club. He is no Messi that we will cry over him. It is just about us that some kid and Levy makeing us fools..
samuel – united WE stand; I came on because it appeared on Spurs Newsnow feed. I commented because SAF is amusing when he gets self rightous. I don’t blame Fergie for wanting a fee, but he won’t get one because Levy foxed him. I think that’s funny too.
SSG. United didn’t turn up first half. Simple as. Dare say you have released a DVD of that game. One off games matter not. What DOES matter is the table. How many points behind are you?
Anyway, cheers for the banter, but I have some work to do. Enjoy the weekend
Actually I get why Spurs fans would be upset at how the Berbatov saga unfolded. Kind of went through the same thing when Ronaldo decided he wanted to leave in the middle of a 4 year contract. Of course they weren’t nearly as upset when Robbie Keane left in similar circumstances but that’s another issue…
As for someone saying Levy won 5 rounds in his battles with United, a nice fairytale but plenty of bullshit in it as well. For one thing, Juande Ramos (not Jol) was the Tottenham manager when Berbatov joined United. Also, there has never been any record of UNited making 2 approaches about Modric. You think Fergie wanted to do business again with Tottenham after they spiked up Berbatov’s transfer fee by 10 million? Fat chance.
Anyway, Thanks for the Berb. Helped us land the historic 19th title. You can enjoy Zeki.
jeezz,, u still just couldnt get it do u??? i’m so tired now so i wont enlarge this discussion anymore. if u’re so happy with the way u acted about this Fryers well fair play to u then. just hope u’ll get the same experience in the future.
SSG
We payed 5% less for Dimi then Citeh offered. Why did t you pay to us 5 mills? You are against that what SAF did, but when you do that, then is it ok? If it is not ok, then it is not ok and you dont do that. In Croatia plays at least two players wich are now better than Modric.
And you can be happy that you can win us only when we have bad day…
As for the Fryers case, I guess it’s obvious what’s happened. Morally it’s underhanded but typically, I don’t think United have a case. Spurs just bended the rules to their advantage. Just like we did with Pogba.
King Eric
1. Oh so it was an invalid victory? I’ll alert the FA
2. No. All that crappy play from ManU in the 1st half (the non-counting half) would make poor viewing.
3 Dunno; 12? don’t have the table handy. Have you checked with the BBC?
SSG and one thing is sure…even if Citeh and Chelski can give better wages to players, even we have to overpay players, even we have a lot of injuries….SAF is ALWAYS A WINNER! At the end of the season is always one name at the top of the table MANCHESTER UNITED…only when we have a lot of bad luck, like last year, the rest of you can be happy that we didint won a trophy…but the only thing is sure in this league is our winnings
@Costas:
We paid Le Havre back then even though Le Havre didnt have formal contract with Pogba before.
Costas. Hello mate. Spot on at ten to eleven.
@TheCANTONA
Yes but only after the case was viewed by FIFA and the 2 clubs reached an agreement. Originally, we signed him for nothing taking advantage of that contract loophole in hi. Which is more or less what Tottenham did with Fryers.
@King Eric
Cheers mate. Hope you are well.
*of that contract loophole.* I meant.
I said then that was not right, but we payed then, wich now will not happend…
Karma’s a bitch http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8180042.stm
The talk of United tapping up Berbatov is pure conjecture. Not once did anyone from the club mention Berba (Unlike Liverpool who were mentioning Keane every other sentence). Levy got on his high horse about us supposedly tapping up Berba when a story appeared in the Sun claiming the Norweign version of the official site had announced the signing but that was completely false. A Norweign United site did announce it but was an unofficial supporters site which was using the reports in the British Media and had reported a number of other signings which were never in the pipeline on the same basis.
By all accounts at the point of the sun article United and Spurs had agreed a fee in the low 20’s but this report which Levy either didnt bother confirming or simply decided to make United pay for Liverpools tapping up of Keane made him ask for more which is why it dragged on until deadline day. Spurs then got lucky when City got their money and it was this and the fact United wouldn’t want to have wasted a summer hammering out a deal for him to go elsewhere and certainly not to city that forced them to panic and have to pay over the odds rather than any ridiciousle tapping up claim which would have been traced back to an unofficial fan site
@Costas
Actually I believe a fee was paid eve before they kicked up a fuss. After FIFA agreed United had done everything by the book an additional amount was paid simply to put the issue to bed rather than risk La Harve dragging it on for years by taking it to any court that would listen.
We have got Fabio,Buttner and Blackett (Loved how he performed in Pre seasons). Enjoy with fryers.
@Wakey
I looked at the case on wikipedia and it doesn’t say anything about Le Havre getting a sum. Just Pogba and his family. There’s a chance you could be right about that, but we will probably never know for sure. The agreemenes between the clubs were disclosed.
@Costas
Even if a player doesn’t have a contract due to the laws in that country as was the case with Pogba the FIFA rules dictates that a development fee still has to be paid. At Pogbas age at the time it wouldn’t have been that much (The years he was at United are the years FIFA consider the most important and costly for clubs so Juve paid somewhere between £300-800k for him which is still peanuts and well below what the FA considers fair hence why we would have got Millions if he had gone to say City) but La Harve would have got something and the fact that the announcement was that dispute had been settled suggests an added extra was added (Unless ofc they realised they were in the wrong and FIFA’s finding were correct and they would have just been wasting money fighting it further so settled for the development fee)
LOL I think its Spuds trying to show they are in the big league now!! Problem is that SAF will take it personally and will now not only come after your youngsters but as you spud fans say ‘will tap up’ Bale and sign him and then anyone else we want from your small time club. If we can do it to Le Arse, what chance have the small North London club got. LOL brilliant!!