London - Manchester United insisted on Friday that they had done nothing wrong in signing French teenager Paul Pogba from Le Havre. Their reaction came after Le Havre managing director Alain Belsoeur claimed he had proof United had offered inducements similar to those made by Chelsea to Gael Kakuta to persuade him to leave Lens.
Chelsea were found guilty of having acted illegally in that instance and on Thursday were fined and banned from registering players in the next two transfer windows.
FIFA have so far failed to register Pogba's arrival at Old Trafford, but the club deny wrongdoing.
"It is complete nonsense," a spokesman for United said. "Everything has been done within UEFA guidelines."
But Belsoeur said he would pursue his club9s case.
"We are still pursuing our case," he told The Times. "It is a very serious case.
We are confident that we'll win because it is in the best interests not just of our club but of sport.
"We spend five million euros (about 4.3 million pounds/7 million dollars) on our academy every year out of a turnover of 12 million euros. It is a huge investment.
"We do that to give a chance to our players to develop for our first team, not to be an academy for others.
"What is the point of investing in an academy if the players leave at 16? This is clearly a message from FIFA to protect the education system."
