Sir Alex Ferguson insists he will not be "stupid" with the £80million windfall he received for the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Some Manchester United fans are bound to be alarmed and disappointed in equal measure that Ferguson has declared his summer transfer business over, even though he has only signed three players, the most notable being Michael Owen, who has arrived at Old Trafford on a free transfer.

The Glazer family have already insisted Ferguson will get whatever cash he feels is required to strengthen a squad that next season will bid for an unprecedented fourth straight league title, as well as a place in the Champions League final for the third year in a row.

Ferguson did little to counter that stance, hinting that the decision not to invest the type of huge sums that have been spent by Real Madrid come from his own desire not to waste money in a massively inflated transfer market.

"I can only placate the fans this way and say I am not going to be stupid," he said.

"We have got that wonderful sum of money from Real Madrid but there was no way we were going to throw it away and put an extra nought on the end of the transfer which I didn't think was value."

The case of Karim Benzema was a case in point.
With Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez both heading for the exit door, Benzema was top of Ferguson's wish-list.

At 21, and with Champions League experience already under his belt at Lyon, Benzema would have fitted perfectly into Ferguson's grand plan.

The initial overtures from Old Trafford received a positive response. Then Real Madrid made their move, taking the fee way beyond £30million, to a sum Ferguson felt was unreasonable.

"People have to try and put their own value on players," said Ferguson.

"Lyon may think we under-valued him and that is fine but they have done well to get 32million euros."

The problem for United is that Real's pot of money appears limitless.

In addition to Ronaldo and Benzema, the Madrid outfit have also splashed out in excess of £55million on Kaka and have not yet ruled out the possibility of signing Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich.

"They did the same some years ago, with Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo," reflected Ferguson.
"It is in their nature to do these things. It is the way they operate.

"They are not nearly as afraid of debt as anyone else in the world so that is a big plus for them.

"You have to applaud the system they have for controlling the debt, whether it is the bank or whatever it is. They are still able to do it and it puts them in a fantastic position. It is different from us and different from other clubs."

Yet Ferguson declares himself happy with the way United operate and rejects the theory that Real will be the Red Devils' major European challengers this year, preferring instead to stick with Barcelona, who defeated his own side in such a disappointingly one-sided affair in Rome two months ago.

Manchester City will be rivals only on the domestic front. But Ferguson concedes the extraordinary events at Eastlands, coupled with those at Madrid, have changed football's landscape considerably, further fuelling a market many felt had previously reached its highest level.

"I said that a year ago after the takeover at City that they could affect the market," he said.
"There is some indication that is the case.

"Other values throughout the world, not just in England, are amazing. Some of the numbers being tossed about are sky high.

"For some reason it seems to have caught fire this summer and it has been very difficult to get value."

However, anyone believing United will not be competitive should be wary.

In making his bold statement about no more signings, Ferguson has assessed the players at his disposal and decided the likes of Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda have the ability to make an impact at the highest level.

"There is no need for any knee-jerk reactions," he said.

"We have a good squad and we are still going to be very strong next year."