When striker Romelu Lukaku came over from Everton to Manchester United in July, for a transfer fee of £75 million, he became the fifth most expensive player in history. Many thought United were overpaying, just as it was believed United overpaid, at £89m, for Paul Pogba the summer before.
Today, in light of the transfers which occurred after Lukaku, the outlook is much different.
Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for £198m and Barca bought Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for £97m. Liverpool were offered £138m from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho and they turned it down.
Yes, 2017 was the year that the summer transfer market truly went insane.
In an exclusive interview with The Times, United Manager Jose Mourinho admitted that Lukaku, at the end of the summer, would have cost double what he did in the middle. ‘
I think we were very clever,’ Mourinho said.
“We thought that something could happen that could change the market forever. After Neymar everything changed — and for the worse in terms of prices. I think Lukaku on August 31 would have been £150 million. Matic would have been £60m or £70m. Neymar changed everything.”
“If the biggest transfer in history had still been (Paul) Pogba, I think Philippe Coutinho would now be in Barcelona at £101 million. Lukaku and Matic, now, would have cost us £200 million in total. But because we did it in the first part of the summer, it was much less.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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