Wealthy owners have taken over a number of lesser European powers, from Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia to Paris St. Germain.
Ferguson also cited APOEL Nicosia as having a wealthy owner, though the Cypriots, who are the first team from the country to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League, pay their players a mere fraction of what bigger European teams do.
“You can see the amount of money that some of the Russian teams are spending and the number of Brazilians they have playing for them now,” he said.
“Then you notice that Apoel Nicosia have qualified already, they are funded by a wealthy guy. I think they have only three Cypriot players, the rest are from other countries.”
