The road to Rio has proved an expensive journey for Manchester United, even though Rio Ferdinand's £30m transfer fee is being paid in installments. To many people it looks a bit like paying top dollar for shares at the height of the internet boom when the bubble had already burst. They may be proved right. If, however, it proves to be the missing ingredient that enables Sir Alex Ferguson's squad to win top honours in Europe next season, then it will have more than proved its worth. Mr Ferdinand is only 23, so his new club could get 10 years out of him if he stays free of serious injury - in which case £3m a year doesn't sound quite so over the top after all.

Even so, it is difficult to resist taking out your pocket calculator to do some comparison shopping. For £30m, Manchester United could have brought the whole of Leeds United - players, ground and all - on the stock market and kept the change. Leeds was valued at £25.2m at the weekend - and its capitalisation on the market was only that high because Rio's performance in the World Cup added value to it. Earlier in the year the whole company could have been snapped up for under £10m (admittedly with a Scratching Shed-ful of debts).

And Leeds is one of the more expensive clubs. For £30m Manchester United could have bought Leicester City (currently worth £3.66m), Sheffield United (£2.5m) Southampton (£10.3m) and Aston Villa (£11.7m) and still had nearly £2m to buy a useful defender from elsewhere. Looked at another way, Leicester as a club is worth 12% of Mr Ferdinand, maybe part of his left leg - and not necessarily the kicking bit. Alternatively, Sir Alex could have purchased Celtic (valued at only £15.1m), runaway winners of the Scottish Premiership, twice over. What £30m could buy in Mr Ferdinand's home manor in Peckham can only be guessed at. We have all got so used to playing fantasy football that it is difficult to know when you are dealing with the real thing.