Ferguson backs 'his best ever group of players'

Never afraid to back his judgment over new signings, the Manchester United manager may just have steeled himself for a second before parting with £31million for two youngsters whose names meant little or nothing to most Premiership observers.

Scroll down for more

If there was a sense of shock at a spectacular double swoop for Nani and Anderson it was matched — in Germany at least — when Ferguson followed up by meeting Bayern Munich's £18m asking price for Owen Hargreaves.

Held largely responsible for Bayern's alarming decline last season, one top-ranking club official privately offered to drive the England midfielder to Munich airport if United were really prepared to pay that much.

With Carlos Tevez finally adding a further £10m to the overall outlay yesterday, Ferguson has once more outspent the rest but left himself open to questions about value for money in the process.

The answer, delivered on the eve of United's Wembley date with Chelsea in the Community Shield, could hardly have been more emphatic and should be enough to send a shudder through any pretenders to their Premiership crown.

As he pondered the seemingly endless array of attacking possibilities at his disposal after adding Nani, Anderson and Tevez to the match-winning flair of Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Ferguson declared: 'In terms of sheer talent, I'd say this group of players is probably the best I've ever had.'

Given the convincing nature of their success last season, it would appear United will take more stopping than ever after seemingly outshining their main rivals in a summer of unprecedented spending throughout the Premiership.

Ferguson was reluctant to claim outright that he had reinforced his hold on the title but the inference was clear enough as he mused:

'Have we strengthened more than the others? It's difficult to say, difficult to make that comparison, but I know I'm happy with what we've done in the transfer market.

'In Nani and Anderson, we have two players who are going to serve us particularly well in the future.

They are terrific talents, just embarking on their careers, and they both simply love being out there playing. We have known about Nani a long time. When we signed Ronaldo, Nani was the next one we were keeping an eye on at Sporting Lisbon. He can operate on both flanks, is very quick and athletic and has a terrific attitude.

'Anderson is another fantastic talent who can play central midfield or in the middle in attack. We have spent a fair bit on them but the deals are good value because these boys will give us great attacking options for years to come.

'We have been chasing Hargreaves for over a year and there is no doubt he will give us ingredients that are going to be really helpful, especially in the Champions League. Getting Tevez as well means we now have four really good acquisitions.

'It was a fantastic effort winning the Championship last year and doing it the right way, playing entertaining football, made it all the more satisfying. It was a new team and we always expect them to do even better in the second year.

'I think they will do well next season, no doubt about that. There is some good emerging talent at this club and they will get even better.

'In terms of sheer talent we have possibly not had a better squad than this one but the emphasis will continue to be on winning. We want winning teams, as well as entertaining ones. That is the mentality we will take into the new season.'

Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham have all invested heavily to try to upstage United but Ferguson is convinced that the 2007-08 champions elect will be on view at Wembley tomorrow.

'The top four have all done a bit of buying and so have a few others,' he said. 'Liverpool and Arsenal finished 20 points behind us last season and won't want to be that far adrift again, so you would expect improvement there.

'We expect a challenge from the others in the top four, while Tottenham have been working away to continue last season's improvement and may join in a bit.

'Sam Allardyce taking over at Newcastle will, without question, make a difference to them and Everton have maintained their continuity by renewing a lot of their players' contracts.

'You can see quite an interesting battle developing but the question about whether the League will be more competitive than it has ever been is asked every year and I don't see the answer changing.

'You can go into the campaign expecting a tough competition but unfortunately it doesn't work out that way.

'Always, by January, you have two or three teams — usually two — who break away from the rest, as happened last season and the season before.

'On paper, it looks like it could be a great League but history says otherwise. You look at the trend and it tells you there are always just two teams who end up going for it.'