Glazers not selling United

For the second time in a fortnight, stories have surfaced suggesting the American billionaire is ready to offload the Old Trafford club after realising the profits to be made fall short of his lofty expectations.

But a spokesman for the family could not have been more clear when he pointed out their vision for the future. "The Glazer family have a long-term commitment to Manchester United and that is not going to change," he said. "Quite simply, they are not interested in selling the club. Why would they?"

After completing a controversial £800million buy-out two years ago, Glazer has already re-financed United's massive debts once and chief of staff Ed Woodward is believed to be working on another re-structuring, which would reduce annual interest payments from a startling £65million a year.

Yet the Glazer family refute in the strongest terms possible any suggestion they want to sell the new champions.

After rejecting a similar story on the eve of the last Premiership home game against West Ham earlier this month, the Glazers have been 'flabbergasted' to discover yet more speculation surfacing.

At a time when United are about to benefit from a massively increased TV deal and knowing revenue from sponsorship and season-ticket sales - albeit through major price increases which have attracted huge criticism from fans' groups - is about to rise significantly, there would appear to be no sense behind any move by the Glazers to bail out now.

The Glazers' commitment to backing Sir Alex Ferguson in the transfer market is likely to be tested this summer as the United boss has identified three big-name targets who he believes will give the Red Devils the best chance of defending their Premiership crown and pushing on from their appearance in the Champions League semi-finals.

Owen Hargreaves' capture is set to be confirmed swiftly, possibly as early as today now chief executive David Gill has returned from his trouble-shooting mission in Malaysia.