Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that Chelsea signing Eden Hazard is not worth the £34m the Blues paid.
Hazard, 21, reportedly came close to joining the Reds this summer before eventually opting to join Roberto Di Matteo's London side.
However, Ferguson has suggested that United were not prepared to offer the asking price of Hazard's former club Lille.
"There is a borderline in terms of what you would think is a good signing for United. I see some values on players, like Hazard for instance. To me it was a lot of money. He's a good player, but £34m?" he told reporters.
"What we're finding anyway, the climate for buying these top players - not just the transfer fees, the salaries, agents' fees - is just getting ridiculous now. In the Hazard deal, Chelsea paid the agent £6m. The [Samir] Nasri situation was the same.
"It's all about what you think is value for a player. I am not envious of those deals at all. We placed a value on Hazard which was well below what they were talking about. So if it doesn't work, well we're not worried about that. We think we've got good value in [Shinji] Kagawa."
United continue their pre-season preparations against Shanghai Shenhua on Wednesday.
Matt Law
