Ferguson keeping one eye on the future

ALEX FERGUSON has admitted Manchester United will need to “stretch” themselves in the transfer market to cope with a hat-trick of retirements.

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

United have invested in excess of £20 million (€23 million) to secure the services of Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling and surprise capture Bebe, but the signature transfer to replace Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez has so far failed to materialise.