I must say I am completely baffled that some jealous people are making so much noise about the money Real Madrid has dished out to secure the services of the multi talented Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United fame. In my local parlance we call jealous people “skin pain”. The truth of the matter is, Real Madrid President Florentino Perez appreciates the value for money and as an astute business tycoon he knows how to recoup the colossal 131 million dollars invested in the Ronaldo transaction. End of matter.

Perez is not new to such glamorous deals. He did it in 2001 involving the famous Zenidine Zedane’s move from Juventus and recently Brazil’s Kaka from AC Milan.

UEFA President, Michel Platini appears to be leading the crusade against what he perceives to be Real Madrid’s high spending on transfers. He says it is puzzling at a time when football faces some of its worst ever financial challenges we should have such “excessive “transfer deals. I beg to differ. I think in this time of worldwide financial crisis, Perez who apparently has the funds, should rather be encouraged to put more money into the sport to promote high standards that would ultimately attract much patronage.

Platini argues that such high profile transfers are a serious challenge to the idea of fair play and the concept of financial balance in football competitions. I don’t buy this argument. Who talks about fairplay these days? Tell it to the marines. There is such a wide gulf between many football nations and clubs that fair play can only be on paper. Let’s ask ourselves how many countries can stage the World Cup, European Cup, Africa Cup, Olympic Games, and Commonwealth Games etc. Should we scrap these games because only a few countries can afford to be hosts? To my mind the answer is a big no.

The chairman of the French League, Frederic Thiriez is also critical of Ronaldo’s big transfer bid. Hear him, “Those amounts are neither understandable nor justifiable. Those excesses will lead the sport to the wall. I ask for a European financial regulator”. Since both Platini and Thiriez are French, there is the temptation to conclude that the French are not happy with football’s big spenders. The reality is that money is a big influence in sport and since all players in a team don’t receive a single spine salary it would not be feasible to talk about financial regulations at this point in time.

My conviction is that those who have the means must be encouraged to invest in the game so that the benefits might trickle down to the downtrodden. I cannot imagine when with all the goodwill in the world, a famous Ghanaian club like Kumasi Asante Kotoko can match Manchester United in any aspect of the football industry. The best option will be for Kotoko to be lucky to get one of their players signed on by Manchester United and then Kotoko will use the benefits to construct a training pitch worth its name.

At this stage, let me congratulate Sir Alex Ferguson for his enormous bargaining power. The veteran manager is associated with scoring many firsts and Cristiano Ronaldo’s world record transfer deal should only add to Ferguson’s rich CV. Indeed, Ronaldo’s exit did not come as much of a surprise to many Manchester United faithful. The writing had been on the wall for a long time, but Alex the master tactician was waiting to strike at the right time. And the opportune time came when Ronaldo visibly began to display traits of lack of commitment to the Manchester United cause with some tantrums on and off the pitch spiced with some rather unsavoury remarks about the tactics of Ferguson that cost Old Trafford the Champions’ league Cup.

Ferguson’s ability to buy a talented teenager for £12m, nurture him to become the world’s number one and eventually sell him for £80 m is really good business.

If it were in my part of the world, some military government would charge him for “profiteering”, in other words “selling above control price”. But in the sporting world we agree it’s all in the game.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.