Serie A legend Hernan Crespo believes thatJuventus' £75.3m signing of Gonzalo Higuain was far more "logical" as opposed to Manchester United parting with £89m to sign Paul Pogba,Goal.comreports.
Juventus exercised their financial muscle in activating Higuain's buy-out clause from Serie A rivals Napoli before reluctantly allowing Pogba to return to United for a world record fee of £89m.
But Crespo, who was himself a world record transfer back in 2000 for Lazio, believes Juve's deal for the former Real Madrid star represents value for money and highlighted the striker's goal return in Serie A as evidence.
Nobody gives you anything for free, especially not in football,� the 41-year-old told La Nacion. If Juventus paid so much to get Higuain from Napoli, it means he's worth that money.
In my view, it is logical to pay €90m [£75.3m] for a striker who scored 36 goals in a single season. It's far more logical than Manchester United paying €110m [£89m] for Pogba.
I say that with all due respect for the Frenchman, who is a great midfielder.�
Higuain, 29, scored on his debut for Juventus in the opening Serie A win against Fiorentina last month. But his fitness had been the source of muchdebateby several onlookers withthe Argentina international recentlyomittedfor his national team's World Cup qualifying matches.
AndAlbiceleste head coachEdgardo Bauza revealed the striker was not in the right condition to play for national team.
"To me, Higuain is part of our national team and I told him that," Bauza said.
"But for these two matches, I spoke with him and we decided not to recall him. He was arriving at a new club and he needed to get himself in shape and do a certain preseason training to physically get in shape."