SIGH..
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has
said he may not add any more players to his squad this
summer.
Ferguson has already signed Mexico's Javier Hernandez from
Guadalajara and defender Chris Smalling from Fulham.
But a host of more signings were expected, particularly after
chief executive David Gill indicated funds are available to his
manager.
"There may be one signing but it's not easy in the present
climate. The market is very difficult," said Ferguson.
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Speaking alongside Gill at a press conference in New York to
promote United's four-game North American tour this summer,
Ferguson added: "The structure of our squad is good in terms of
ages, the balance, the numbers and there's a lot of good young
players.
"Sometimes you have to trust in the development of the last few
years and I'm going to stick with that, or most of it."
Gill added: "The Premier League is bringing in squad limits next
year of 25 but there will be unlimited under-21s and other rules
and we'll be taking all that into consideration."
Ferguson revealed he would not be replacing goalkeeper Ben
Foster, instead promoting England Under-21 international Ben Amos
to the first-team squad alongside Edwin Van der Sar and Tomasz
Kuszczak.
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Foster is close to completing a £6m move to Birmingham, having
missed out on England's squad for the World Cup in South
Africa.
"When we decided to let Ben (Foster) go, we were in the process
of letting a good young goalkeeper, Ben Amos, go out on loan,"
Ferguson said.
"He's in the England Under-21 team but we can only accommodate
three goalkeepers. So when the situation with Ben's future at
Manchester United came into it and we agreed to let him go, we
stopped Ben Amos from going on loan.
"He will now be our third goalkeeper, he's very talented and has
a good future ahead of him."
Supporters' groups opposed to the Glazer family's ownership of
Manchester United have argued that Ferguson's transfer dealings are
being limited by the level of debt carried by the club.
But Gill said: "We're very confident the business model we have
in place will ensure the club can continue to compete at the top of
football for many years to come."
"Our season ticket sales, renewals, for this upcoming season are
on track with previous years. Our executive ticket renewals are on
track," he said.
"The owners have been true to their word since they took over
the club in 2005. They've brought commercial expertise and
commercial benefit to us in a numbers of areas, and we've seen our
revenues grow significantly."
The club's summer tour will begin with a training camp in
Chicago followed by friendlies against Celtic in Toronto on 16
July, the Philadelphia Union in Philadelphia on 21 July, the Kansas
City Wizards in Kansas four days later, and the MLS All-Stars in
Houston on 28 July.
Ferguson will give his World Cup players leave of absence from
the tour, which will move on to Mexico and a game against
Guadalajara, which was agreed as part of the deal to sign
21-year-old forward Hernandez.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8691007.stm