Fergie Fears Trio Retirement

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted Manchester United may have to dig deep to replace the old guard.

For the second summer running, Ferguson has opted not to spend heavily in the transfer market.

United are yet to make a high-profile signing since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez last year, with United having invested in excess of £20million to capture Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling and Bebe this summer.

Ferguson's thrifty approach has led to accusations he is being handicapped by the huge debts incurred by the Glazer family, something both he and chief executive David Gill have repeatedly denied.

The United boss feels the Red Devils have enough youngsters coming through at present to do the business.

However, Ferguson accepts he may have to splash out once veterans Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville hang up their boots.

"We are not at the point where we have to go overboard to get the best player in the world," he said.

"There are enough really top players in the club at the moment.

"There may be a time in the next couple of years where we have to stretch ourselves, particularly when Ryan, Paul and Gary retire.

"Then, it is a possibility we would need to get really top players in to galvanise the younger ones coming through.

"But at the moment we have the experience. We have players who have been through the whole gamut of emotions at this club and know how to deal with it."

While Manchester City and Real Madrid have been by far the busiest clubs in the transfer market over the last 18 months, Ferguson insists he has money to spend if he feels his squad is not up to scratch.

"We have no financial restrictions," he said. "If I hadn't been confident maybe we would have done something.

"But there was only one player I would have brought here and that move was sealed off quite early by the club he went to.

"The best thing we can do until the market becomes more sensible is produce or buy young players and develop them in the club.

"By doing that we are easily securing the next eight years at Manchester United."