United paid 1.5m to Macheda´s family: Lazio boss

Lazio president Claudio Lotito on Wednesday claimed that Manchester United paid Federico Macheda’s family 1.5 million euros to prise the star striker away from the Italian capital.

Macheda announced his arrival on the senior football stage in stunning fashion on Sunday, scoring a dramatic injury time winner as United returned to the top of the Premier League with a last gasp 3-2 win over Aston Villa.

The news made big waves in Italy where disgruntled voices immediately started emanating from Lazio, where Macheda was a trainee, crying foul about the way United had signed the 17-year-old.

And now Lotito told a Lazio supporters website that he could do nothing to hold onto the highly rated forward.

“Manchester United gave Macheda’s father 1.5 million euros,” said Lotito. “The boy only got 80,000 euros of that but they managed to convince the parents by offering a huge figure for a 14-year-old boy.

“I’ve been criticised for not having held onto Macheda but that was a huge amount of money and thankfully UEFA president (Michel) Platini is writing a rule to ban this kind of move.

“Our youth system is not a waste of time given how many players make it through to the first team.”

Macheda left Rome for Manchester when he was only 16 and is considered a hot prospect by the English, European and world champions.

However, Platini is trying to push through a ruling that would stop Europe’s richest clubs from pinching the best teenage talent from around the world without compensating the teams that develop them.