Lorient president Loic Fery has defended his decision to sell midfielder Didier Ndong to Sunderland on the final day of the summer transfer window, explaining real life football is not the Football Manager video game.
Sunderland were determined to snare the Gabon international before the transfer window shut and laid €20m plus bonus payments on the table, a sum which Fery, who pointed out that the total is half his side's budget for the season, could not resist.
Lorient only snapped Ndong up from Tunisian side CS Sfaxien in the winter window last year, but now he is at Sunderland on a five-year contract, at the disposal of boss David Moyes.
The French club's fans have been unhappy at Ndong's departure, but Fery has fiercely defended his decision to sell, revealing he rejected three earlier offers.
"Three times we refused the departure of Didier Ndong, from €12m to €14m and then €16m", Fery told Ouest-France.
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"But when the last offer, €20m, and probably a little more with bonuses, arrived, his departure became inevitable for several reasons.
"On the one hand, because there was this offer, which represents 50 per cent of FCL's budget, but also because the player could increase his salary by ten or 12 times."
Fery insists that when it comes down to it, no player is outside the transfer market because real life football is not Football Manager.
"The reality is that there is no untransferable player, even on the last day of the transfer window, and you cannot control everything", the Lorient supremo said.
"We do not play Football Manager.
"Behind this transfer, there is a man, a group, a club.
"Keep Didier Ndong against his will and him not being able to perfom, it was not a situation we wanted to be in", Fery added.
