MANCHESTER UNITED have been accused of subjecting Adem Ljajic to “psychological shock” after pulling out of the €10 million deal to sign the player dubbed “Little Kaka” in Serbia, believing him to be too much of an expensive gamble at a time when the club’s owner, Malcolm Glazer, is imposing financial cuts at Old Trafford.
Mladen Furtula, Ljajic’s agent, has described the 18-year-old as “surprised” and admitted that United’s decision to invoke a get-out clause not to go through with the transfer from Partizan Belgrade would “change our lives”.
Goran Stevanovic, Partizan’s head coach, praised Ljajic for “overcoming the psychological shock”.
Savo Milosevic, the former Aston Villa striker who is running for the position of Partizan’s new chairman, added: “For Ljajic, psychologically, this could have a negative impact, but I hope that this won’t be the case.”
United announced this week that they no longer considered Ljajic good enough to make the grade.
That, however, was contradicted yesterday by the assistant manager, Mike Phelan, who said it was not because of the player’s ability but because of potential work permit problems.
“We made a tentative approach to get a work permit and the word we got back from the Home Office was that we couldn’t get that through in time to get Adem signed in January,” Phelan said.
GuardianService
