United dithering cost them Robben

14 April 2012

Chelsea snapped up Arjen Robben for £12million from PSV Eindhoven after Manchester United offered just £5m for the Dutch winger.

Robben yesterday agreed to move to Stamford Bridge next season but PSV president Harry van Raaij said United reduced their original offer when discovering the Dutch club had financial problems.

The clubs initially agreed a £10.5m fee but when they resumed talks this was halved to £5m before eventually going up to £8m. As a result, PSV entered talks with Chelsea, who were prepared to meet their £12m valuation for the emerging Holland winger.

Van Raaij said: "United were first in the queue so we kept Chelsea waiting, but when we had our second discussion with United over the fee, we were very disappointed over how low they believed they could push us.

"They seemed to think he was worth a lot less than Chelsea were willing to pay." The informal £10.5m fee was made last year by United's then chief executive Peter Kenyon, who is now at Chelsea.

Van Raaij added: "Peter is an honest man. When you make a deal with him the deal remains a deal. But it is not the way Manchester United have been since.

"But Kenyon was very important in the deal and I've dealt with him in the past in negotiations with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam. He is a fine negotiator."

United said in a statement last night: "It is no secret we were interested in him, but our valuation was not the same as PSV." Robben was keen to join the English champions but turned his attention towards Chelsea when United revealed that the deal would be on hold until 2005 as they were not in a position to pay the money for another 18 months.

The 20-year-old, who has agreed a fiveyear deal worth £40,000 a week, will become the 13th signing of Roman Abramvoich's reign and take the Chelsea

owner's spending on players to £134m. The wheels were put in motion for the deal nine days ago when Kenyon and Claudio Ranieri made a secret trip to Robben's flat in Eindhoven.

The player said: "It was very important to know how much Chelsea wanted me.

"At first I was not so keen on Chelsea, because of the way they have been buying up a lot of players. But the conversations I had with Peter Kenyon and Claudio Ranieri made up my mind. I changed my mind about Chelsea.

"The people at the club explained exactly how they saw the future. Their vision is to build on young players, to develop with talented youngsters."

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