Page 86 - Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

of the FIFA regulations in place at the time.
The big clubs in Europe subsequently raised their barriers to stop English raids. They were never
likely to allow the likes of Piqué and Fàbregas to leave the country year after year. At our end,
spotting young talent in England, we would have paid £5 million for a first-team player. But why

were we asked to pay £500,000 for one who subsequently failed to make the grade? Richard
Eckersley was an interesting case: Burnley offered us £500,000 for him. We wanted £1 million. We’d
spent 12 years developing the boy. The compensation should really kick in when the player makes the
first team. I don’t think the selling club would complain, especially with a sell-on clause.
We are all subject to errors of judgment, and I made a few in those years, with Kléberson, Djemba-
Djemba, and so on. I was castigated right to the end over Ralph Milne – and he cost me £170,000. I
get pelters for that. The coaching staff would tease me: ‘We need another Ralphy Milne, boss.’ All

my staff had been with me for 20 years plus. They don’t forget. William Prunier was another one I
was mocked for. Even Patrice Evra, in that high-pitched way, said to me one day: ‘Boss, did you have
William Prunier?’
Ryan Giggs’ face dropped as he waited for the response.
‘Aye, we had him on trial once,’ I snapped.
‘On trial?’ Evra squeaked back. He was not going to let it drop. ‘How long?’

‘Two games.’
‘A two-game trial?’
‘Yes, and it was a disaster!’
Patrice had found the target.
The first thing you do with a new player is help him settle: banking, housing, language, transport,
and so on. There is a process. Language is always the biggest barrier. Valencia’s grasp of English, for
example, was a problem. With Antonio it was purely a confidence issue. I can write and read in

French, but I lack confidence speaking it. Antonio knew this. ‘How’s your French?’ he said one day.
Point taken. But I did point out to him that had I been working in France, I would have made an effort
to speak the language. Valencia was working in England, so the same applied to him.
As a player, though, he was as brave as hell. You couldn’t intimidate Valencia. He’s a boy from the
favela. He’s obviously scrapped in his life. Tough as anything. In a 50–50, he would be right in there,
arms across the opponent.

Another marquee signing in the summer of 2006 was Michael Carrick. We had admired Carrick for
a while and David Gill was receiving feedback from Spurs that they might be willing to sell. ‘What
value would you put on him?’ asked David.
‘If you got him for eight million you would be doing well,’ I said.
I’ll always remember the words David came back with: ‘Daniel Levy says you’ll have to go a bit
north before they can accept it.’
We haggled for weeks. We had watched Michael playing against Arsenal at the end of the season

and Martin told me, ‘He’s definitely a Manchester United player.’ He was the star man. I think the
initial fee was £14 million, with clauses running to £18 million.
Michael was a natural passer of the ball at a time when Scholes was inching towards his mid-
thirties. What impressed me about Carrick was that he was always looking to play that forward pass.
His range was expansive and he could switch the play. The long passes were the ones I felt we could
utilise with the players we had. After a couple of months we told him we couldn’t understand why he

had not yet scored for us. In training he struck the ball well, but in games he was not a threat from
shooting positions. We improved him in that department. We offered him more freedom and tried to