Football Talk - Real Madrid & Gago hit out at Manchester City - 03/02/10
Fernando Gago's agent has hit out at Manchester City over their handling of their bid for his client. City lodged a bid for Gago last week and the player appeared confident of moving.
But City boss Roberto Mancini preferred to sign Kenyan star McDonald Mariga and City agreed terms with Parma. However, he was refused a work permit and subsequently joined Inter. That left City with few other options, and they tried to rescue a deal late on Monday for Gago - but there was not enough time to complete the transfer.
"City used us," Gago's agent Marcello Lombillatold radio station Onda Cero. "This has never happened to me before. I don't want to talk about the figures that City were offering because they approached Madrid without even knowing there wasn't physically enough time to put something together."
Real's sporting director Jorge Valdano was equally unimpressed with City's attempts. "They had nothing prepared, not even one document signed," Valdano told El Pais. "They had not reached an agreement with the player and they would have had to have done everything in 40 minutes."
Lombilla says that Gago will now concentrate on getting his Real career back on track. "Despite the fact he went from being 'untransferable' to suddenly 'for sale', he will always continue to work hard," he stated.
