Carlos Queiroz has revealed his disbelief after Real Madrid splashed out €30m for Pepe when they could have signed him for just €2m four years ago.Los Merengues extravagant summer purchase from Porto saw a few eyebrows raised, but none more so than in Manchester where the club's former coach watched in disbelief.
During his one season in charge at the Bernabéu, Queiroz told the board about a rising star in Portugal that he believed would become a top level player only to be rebuffed because Pepe was not a Galáctico.
Pepe was plying his trade for Maritimo and the current Manchester United assistant manager was told that he would cost Madrid just €2m ahead of the 2003-04 campaign.
"I told Florentino Perez that he was a player with a great chance of becoming a great player," Queiroz explained.
"Real Madrid did not want to sign him at that time because they believed that defenders did not sell shirts."Porto stepped in and snapped up the centre-back, who was 20 at the time, and made a €28m profit after forcing Madrid's hand this summer.
The incredible oversight has left the current Madrid administration needing to break the bank in order to land the defender, who will now compete for a place alongside Fabio Cannavaro, Christoph Metzelder and Sergio Ramos for a place in Bernd Schuster's team.
Pedja Mijatovic, Madrid's sporting director, wanted to capture Christian Chivu from Roma, but after talks broke down the club were hurried into moving for Pepe.
