http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/69/t...riguez-came-close-to-juventus-move-says-agent

I still think we could have beaten Monaco with an equal bid. RM, of course not. James I'm sure would have preferred Juve over Monaco.
One thing I've learned about following this team, is we have been burned by haggling on price. I would not doubt we had some good buys lined up where we negotiated too long, someone got wind of the deal, and ended up outbidding us.
A similar thing happened to Milan this year. If it had waived the medical, Jackson would have been there's. You sometimes have to be aggressive in the transfer market because the longer you wait, the more likely it is that you'll be outbid.
Like for Gotze, ask Bayern's price. If it is 50 million eur, pay it. For world class talent you can pay up... Trying to pay 30, and waiting for the likes of Arsenal to bid 45 just results in failure.
We've saved so much transfer cash over the last 4 years, surely we could afford 1 big buy that is basically a sure thing...poorer teams do it.