Berlusconi and Ferguson: Shrewd Businessmen

Everybody knows that Milan started the transfer season in a disastrous fashion this year. They sold Kaka and lost Ancelloti to Chelsea, even though Ancelloti leaving actually might be a good thing.

Milan then proceeded to attempt to buy a great forward by the name of Dzeko, and then another in Fabiano, and they failed.

They failed not because Milan does not have the money or because Silvio Berlusconi is a cheapskate, but rather because the money Milan were offering was the realistic evaluations of the players.

The story of Milan's transfer dealings so far illustrates fiscal intelligence and an unwillingness to partake in the madness that is currently going on.

For instance, Fabiano is a good striker. When given the right supply, as he is when he is playing for the Brazilian national team, you can count on him to score. He isn't anything spectacular, but he'll score when needed.

AC Milan offered €14 million for him, which seems about right for a striker that is 29 years old and just good. Last season, €14-15 million could have bought you a striker of his standards, but I guess since Kaka and Ronaldo went for the big bucks, everybody thinks that their players are worth double what they used to be.

Same thing with Dzeko.

Milan offered somewhere in the region of €22 million and Borriello/Kaladze which brings that to over €30 million, yet that was not enough for Wolfsburg. They must have thought they had Karim Benzema on their hands or something.

Elsewhere, Inter president Massimo Moratti first stated that if Kaka is worth €67.5 million, then Ibrahimovic is worth €100 million.

Then when Ronaldo was sold for €94 million he said that Kaka and Ronaldo COMBINED are not worth as much as Ibra.

Obviously, these prices thrown down are a result of the ego's of some men and the crazy inflation going on due to the sales of Kaka and Ronaldo and to some degree Benzema.

Ferguson himself said that United bid for Benzema but wouldn't budge over €35 million, which is still a pretty astronomical number, but Real Madrid had no problems with going over that value.

These days players like Sergio Aguero have €60 million on their head, and everybody is saying, "Well if Kaka is worth this much, then my guy is worth twice as much."

That's why I personally like people like Berlusconi and Ferguson, who instead of using the vast sums of money they received from the sales of their two best players, are just going about picking up players in the "bargain bin" who might turn out to be great, keeping a low profile and waiting till everything calms down a bit.

Most of the time, they've been slammed for not shelling out the cash. Milan fans are at Berlusconi's throat to replace Kaka, and most pundits have said that the leaving of Ronaldo leaves a huge hole in United which they cannot fill unless they spend big and get Ribery or someone of equal value.

Obviously, Milan and Man Utd are looking towards the near future, when prices will probably lower due to the crisis which Wenger claims is about to hit football. Regardless, if the crisis will hit, one way or another the prices will lower.

And when they do, that's when the shrewd businessmen such as Berlusconi and Ferguson will come out to play, and that is when they'll have the biggest chequebooks of them all.