Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he wanted to put a €180m price tag on Cristiano Ronaldo when the forward moved to Real Madrid.
Ferguson, speaking to Portuguese publication A Bola, said he was told it was unrealistic to expect Madrid to pay such a high sum for a player.
But in light of Madrid’s purchase of Gareth Bale last summer, Ferguson now believes Los Blancos would have stumped up the money.
“I told [then Manchester United chief executive] David Gill to ask for £150m (€180m) and he told me not to be naïve.
“It bothers me that we didn’t charge enough.
“I still ask myself what Florentino Perez would have said if we had asked for £150m.
“Given that Gareth Bale moved for £85m (€100m), I believe they would have paid between £80m and £150m for Cristiano. That was very disappointing.
“If we had got £150m I would talk about it for the rest of my life.
“It would have been fabulous to receive that amount of money. Cristiano moved with my approval but we didn’t receive a fair price.”
