Ferguson: We Don't Need to Make Signings

Viruses, injuries and the Olympics may have undermined Manchester United's pre-season but Sir Alex Ferguson insisted last night that he would be content to open the club's Premier League title defence without any new signings.

Tottenham's hardline stance on Dimitar Berbatov has frustrated United efforts to add the ?28m-rated Bulgarian to their double-winning ranks, though the financial balancing act at White Hart Lane may have provoked Ferguson's claim that he is "not desperate" to spend this month. If true, that would contradict the United manager's philosophy of constant improvement and leave even this squad short of the extra attacking option.

But as Lee Martin and particularly Rafael da Silva suggested in the pre-season friendly draw with Juventus last night, perhaps the Scot has sufficient confidence in his latest young recruits to sit back and relax. "We are still looking but it is not easy and certainly we are not desperate," said Ferguson. "We might well start 2008-09 with largely the squad we had last season and, after all, they didn't do too badly.

"We have the right balance of youth and experience thanks to the work we did in the transfer market the previous year. In terms of numbers we have been boosted by the return from loan of several young players who have the potential to go all the way. So I think we already have the men for the job."