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Ferguson blames City for 'insane' transfer market

Sir Alex Ferguson admits Manchester United cannot match Manchester City's spending power © Getty Images

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Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he fears Manchester City will steal his transfer targets in the summer.

With City on course to snatch the Premier League title from Manchester United, Ferguson is looking to bolster his squad at the end of the season, but the Scot has admitted that nobody can match the spending power of City.

And Ferguson has aimed a swipe at their rivals, claiming clubs like City are to blame for the current state of the transfer market.

"It's been an insane transfer market for a long time and I think clubs like City create that," Ferguson said. "They can buy all the players and put a marker on all the players and that makes it difficult for clubs then to be reasonable. There's no chance of that calming down and I don't see how the Financial Fair Play can work.

"No-one can match City's financial power - no one. We have to accept that, so we do it a different way. We'll try to look at young players with the potential to develop in the club, which we're good at, so we'll stay with that."

Having missed out to City on Arsenal's Samir Nasri last summer, Ferguson is looking at replacements for veterans Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, with Luka Modric, Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson and Eden Hazard reportedly on his list of targets.

While Dimitar Berbatov looks set to leave Old Trafford in the summer, Ferguson insists he will not let the striker leave if a suitable offer is not made.

"We'll assess where we are going in terms of players," Ferguson said. "We'll no doubt be bringing players in. Maybe two or three, who knows? It depends on the type of market we're dealing with and player availability. But Scholes and Giggs are coming to the end so it's a fact that we have to guard against that. It's difficult to think you can get a Giggs or Scholes falling off trees.

"Tom Cleverley has got fantastic potential and Michael Carrick has still got years left in him. But we'll probably add someone to the squad.

"There's nothing settled for Berbatov. We're waiting for someone to make an offer. He won't go for nothing."

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