Fergie fumes over Fryers' Spurs switch

LONDON (AFP) –

Alex Ferguson, pictured on January 1, 2013, wants the Premier League to block former Manchester United defender Zeki Fryers’ transfer from Standard Liege to Tottenham.

Alex Ferguson wants the Premier League to block former Manchester United defender Zeki Fryers’ transfer from Standard Liege to Tottenham.

Fryers, who made six appearances for United after graduating from the club’s youth academy, was out of contract at Old Trafford at the end of last season and looked set to join Tottenham.

When the two clubs could not agree a compensation package, the left-back was able to join any club in Europe for free and he instead moved to Standard Liege on a two-year contract.

However, former England Under-19 international Fryers was only at the Belgian outfit for six months before moving to White Hart Lane on Thursday.

Ferguson accepts that Spurs’ actions were not in breach of the current rules, but the United manager is furious that his club have lost out on a sizeable fee for the 20-year-old.

“There’s nothing we can do about it but I think that really we should, first of all, register our discontent. I think the league should look into it,” Ferguson told MUTV on Friday.

“I think the registration should be stopped until they investigate it thoroughly. There’s bound to be a trail, either mobile phones or e-mails, that could give you the full story of it.

“I must say I’m disappointed in Tottenham. For whatever reason, a club that size has decided to go down this route. I’m disappointed. 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 from us at the end of last season but we couldn’t agree terms.

“Then they took him on trial, came back from Portugal and said they couldn’t afford him.

“All of a sudden he signed for Standard Liege but I expected him to go to Tottenham in the January window.”

Tottenham responded to Ferguson’s claims by insisting they had done nothing wrong.

“Zeki Fryers was out of contract in the summer. We had looked in to the possibility of signing the player but were unable to agree a deal on the terms Manchester United were asking,” a club spokesman said.

“Zeki chose to go to Standard Liege, who paid compensation to Manchester United. 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 that he had become homesick meant he wanted to return to England and 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 five per cent of the transfer fee we have paid.”