Ferguson not intimidated by City´s spending power

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United won’t be affected by Manchester City’s spending power even if his club’s bitter rivals qualify for the Champions League.

United manager Ferguson prepares for Saturday’s Manchester derby at Eastlands knowing that City are in a strong position to clinch fourth place and the final spot in next season’s Champions League.

Given the vast wealth at City’s disposal thanks to their billionaire Abu Dhabi-based owners, the lure of playing in the Champions League should make the club an irresistible proposition for many of the world’s leading players when the transfer window re-opens at the end of the season.

But Ferguson is unmoved by the potential challenge and claims that City’s dreams of buying enough top players to compete for next season’s Premier League title are not guaranteed to end in success.

“They have still got the small problem of ourselves, Chelsea, Arsenal and possibly Liverpool, they have had a disappointing season but I’m sure they will be revved up to do better next season,” Ferguson said on Friday.

“The thing is City can buy. They have such an amazing amount of buying power. They can go and buy another team. If they qualify for the Champions League, you can rest assured they will buy players.

“From our point of view we have a reasonable structure in place. We may need to tweak the squad here and there but we like to buy young players who we can develop – and we’ve been good at that.

“We’ve signed (Javier) Hernandez from Mexico and we may sign one or two more players, at the most, because that is the way we are, that is all we need, our structure is okay.

“I don’t think we will be in competition with City for players because they will be after different types of players. Nobody knows what their plans are but the point is they have a buying power that is different from all the other clubs.”

One player whom United have already lost to City’s superior spending power is Argentina forward Carlos Tevez who has enjoyed a stunning season since moving to Eastlands, scoring 28 goals to date for Roberto Mancini’s side.

However, Ferguson insists that he has no regrets about allowing Tevez to move across the city last year.

“I’ve got no regrets at all. None whatsoever,” Ferguson said. “We tried to buy him but we didn’t match the money they wanted, therefore the boy moved on.

“There is no bitterness for me. Players leave here, some do well, some don’t. You just have to move on.

“This is a very big club and there is a big demand here. I thought he had a good first season with us, I must admit, but in the second season he didn’t feature as much.

“He had far more competition (for his place) with us than he has at City, there is no doubt about that. But you cannot dispute the fact that he has had a great goal-scoring season.”