Manchester United released a biting response to Real Madrid president Florentino Perez's Thursday comments regarding the Old Trafford club's role in Monday's failed David De Gea swap.
A potential €35 million deal to move De Gea from United to Real Madrid was cancelled in the final minutes of Monday's transfer deadline due to completed paperwork not arriving at the Spanish league office on time.
Perez on Thursday laid the blame for the botched transfer at the Old Trafford club's feet, saying Manchester United showed a lack of experience in the negotiations. However the Premier League outfit fired back on Friday, insisting the Real chief was trying to plaster over the "clumsiness" in his club's dealings for the Spanish international this summer.
"The facts speak for themselves. The FA are prepared to back our case that documents were in on time; Real seem intent to move the focus away from their own clumsiness this summer," a Manchester United spokesman said on Friday.
"We all like to blame others but if you let one slip through your fingers into the back of the net, then ultimately the culpability is yours."
Perez told El Larguero on Thursday that United took eight hours on deadline day to review contracts for the transfer, and that when they decided to further negotiate, he knew the deal would be scuppered.
"I don't want to blame anyone but we don't really understand whether they needed eight hours to review the contracts or if it was just that they wanted to wait until the last minute to negotiate.
"When they said they would negotiate, I knew that we wouldn't get it done because I knew about Manchester United's lack of experience."
Perez also said he was unhappy with how the saga had been covered in the Spanish media after the failure to land De Gea was heavily criticised.
He added: "No matter what happens in Madrid, there is always a storm of criticism toward me and it is always the same people.
"I feel like I am being attacked by a lot of people who want to have influence at Real Madrid. Everyone can have an opinion, but they want us to put in the coach that they want, the player that they want.
"I know it is the price for being the president of Real Madrid. For Real Madrid everything is critical. We win 5-0 and people say, 'Why didn't Cristiano [Ronaldo] score?', they talk about his face. Madrid always loses.
"They criticise me because I am the president. In Barcelona people are surprised that the Madrid media treat Madrid this way. The rest of the world doesn't understand how something so valuable, with this kind of image and this kind of prestige, can be treated this way by the local media."