United will rely on English to reclaim crown

Sir Alex Ferguson stressed that many things had attracted him to Rio Ferdinand; his talent, his relative youth, and his potential. However, just as important was Ferdinand's nationality.

The world's most expensive defender was only the fourth Englishman the Manchester United manager has signed since winning his first championship at Old Trafford nine years ago and the eighth who has English as a first language. The success of the United youth team, nurtured by Eric Harrison and Brian Kidd, ensured that Ferguson was able to cherry-pick from European and South American football, while keeping the spine of his side British.

United will never again have young players of the quality and quantity of the 1992 FA Youth Cup winners, although great things are expected of Wes Brown and John O'Shea, a 21-year-old from Waterford who may become Ferdinand's long-term partner. Nevertheless, United's chief executive, Peter Kenyon, insists that the core of the team would remain either English or have English as a first language, which he believes adds immeasurably to team spirit.

"Rio's nationality is important because the backbone of our team is built on English players," he said. "There are more wet, cold days than there are hot, sunny ones and British players know what to expect. We have always said we want to keep the core of our team English. We know what their international commitments are ­ they are not going to suddenly depart on long-haul flights around the world every five weeks. These things are disruptive, irrespective of skill. The team spirit thing has worked for us. The Premier League is a tough league and in some respects is unique. It is not going to take Rio three months to acclimatise."

From the moment he embarked on his first European Cup campaign with United in 1993, Ferguson has accused the Old Trafford board of parsimony when it comes to bidding for Europe's top players.

This, however, appears to have changed, mainly because Manchester United's enormous turnover means they are one of Europe's few clubs free of debt. Since the Bosman Ruling in December 1996, wages in football have increased annually by 30 per cent, a figure which only began to slow this year, and yet even now only half of United's turnover is spent on wages, an almost uniquely low figure in the expensive, rarefied world of the Champions' League.

While Barcelona can no longer afford Rivaldo, United declared record half-year profits of £13m in March, during a season in which they renegotiated nine major contracts, and are less reliant on television revenue than any of their European rivals. Thus, some £47m was spent on Juan Sebastian Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy last summer, while few clubs could have afforded Leeds' £30m asking price for Ferdinand.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, who has never spent more than £12m on a player, remarked yesterday that Ferdinand had been overvalued by as much as £10m. United, however, can afford the price of a player his former manager Harry Redknapp called "a Rolls-Royce".

"I think the financial lessons of football are tough," said Kenyon. "The top players will always command top wages and transfers. Wage controls and wage restraint are up to each individual club to decide.

"Any business has got to use its strengths and ours is that we have little debt. There is a fallacy that just because you are a plc you can't invest in players. We do because that is our core activity. But we are never going to bust this club in search of a player. We knew that Rio was one of the best centre-halves knocking around ­ certainly there were no others like him at that age ­ and we think this will represent a fantastic investment."

Kenyon does not expect Ferguson to add to his squad, but nor is there the pressure to sell which existed in the wake of Veron and Van Nistelrooy's arrival and triggered the departure of Jaap Stam. "We don't think there's a need to add to the squad. What we have done is to secure our squad and then added to it," Kenyon said.

Not that the United players will be under any less pressure to perform. Indeed, the defender Gary Neville, whose hopes of returning from a foot injury for the start of the season on 17 August now look slim, says the squad is aware that this is the time to put up. "All our jobs are on the line," he said yesterday. "We know what we have to do and the manager will not tolerate anything less than us winning a big trophy this season."