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Veron, what a player he was! Wasn't right for England at the time perhaps but incredible. Ferguson's transfers were extremely hit and miss but worse ideas for Man Utd than to buy a British spine of hungry players and go from there. Spent too much on wasters like Lukaku and Pogba who don't give a toss. The latter would be amazing in the right team but that isn't Man Utd right now.
The concept of value is a bit false in a football player context, especially at the premier league level. How do you value a footballer? Will the buying club earn more than £70m in additional revenue (after adjusting for his salary) over the course of his contract, after discounting, as a result of him being there? Almost certainly not. Will the market value of the club increase more than £70m as a direct result of the acquisition? Doubt it.
But then applying a normal valuation approach makes no sense in football because the entire industry is, I suspect, loss-making, and winning things (rather than making money) is ultimately what football clubs should exist for. So the question then becomes, are the new club £70m more likely to win something with Maguire than without? But of course that is a nonsensical question because you are comparing apples with oranges.
It is - again - where I think they get it right in the US and players are exchanged for other players or draft picks rather than cash. It is legitimate to ask whether you are more likely to win something by swapping say 2 squad players for Maguire.