Man Utd news: Monaco chief explains why they were forced into Anthony Martial deal
MONACO were forced to sell Anthony Martial to Manchester United two years ago in order to meet Financial Fair Play regulations, according to the club’s vice chairman Vadim Vasilyev.
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Manchester United signed Martial for an initial £36million on summer deadline day in 2015 - making him the most expensive teenager at the time - with the fee potentially rising to £58m.
Vasilyev suggests Monaco would have liked to have kept hold of the France international - but they hands were tied due to FFP rules.
Vasilyev told French newspaper L’Equipe: “In 2015 we had to sell in order to meet FFP conditions, so it was more of an obligation.
“We are, currently, financially safe and sound. You sell when you think it’s the right time.
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Monaco were forced to sell Anthony Martial to Manchester United due to FFP regulations
In 2015 we had to sell in order to meet FFP conditions
Vadim Vasilyev
"You’ve got to accept the risk and it’s by taking risks that we have got here.”
Monaco did let a number of their title-winning squad leave though, with Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy joining Manchester City and Tiemoue Bakayoko moving to Chelsea.
“Bernardo Silva and [Tiemoue] Bakayoko, it was done [their moves to City and Chelsea],” Vasilyev added.
“The third possible exit was Mendy which we had long resisted.
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“And then, given the offers we had for him and his willingness to leave, we wondered if he would be able to repeat the same season. It was complex.
“At first, I said, ‘No, you're staying. He replied, ‘But Vadim, I really want to go to City with [Pep] Guardiola.’
“Several times he said to me, ‘If it was Chelsea, I would stay, but this is Guardiola, I want to go there.’
"He was frank with me. So when City put that price, when it became the most expensive defender in the world, I had no more arguments to oppose it.”