Sir Alex Ferguson blasts Manchester City signings and claims Carlos Tevez not worth £25m

For a man who reluctantly sold the best player in the world and lost a crowd favourite this summer, Sir Alex Ferguson is remarkably upbeat.

There is no such thing as a quiet summer at Manchester United. The profile of the club and its superstar players ensures some saga is played out every close season.

This summer has been no different. The sale of Cristiano Ronaldo and the acrimonious exit of Carlos Tevez - against fans' wishes - have kept Fergie's gnawed fingernails painfully short.

And the failure to dip in to the £80million from the sale of Ronaldo - who played for Real Madrid against Shamrock Rovers last night - and replace him with a box-office signing of equal standing has led to discontent among many United fans.

But Fergie cut a relaxed figure at Kuala Lumpur's Mandarin Oriental Hotel, United's base in Malaysia, the first stop-off on their tour of the Far East.

He had stayed up until 3am local time to watch The Open, bemoaning Tom Watson's failure to win as "an anti-climax" and claiming Lee Westwood had "thrown it away".

His fingernails, bitten down to the quick, are the only clue to the pressure and anxiety that comes with managing the most popular club in the world.

But no subject was off-limits and Fergie began his preseason address with a brutally withering assessment of Tevez, who snubbed United to join local rivals City for £25m.

"I didn't think Carlos was worth £25m," said Fergie. "Maybe I'm wrong.

"The fans quite rightly have their heroes and I respect the fans so I was happy to go along with a deal as long as it was the right deal.

"Our success is down to the fans and their support. We need them when we're away from home, but simply he was not worth £25m."

Fergie was equally forthright with his assessment of City's chances of breaking into the top four, having spent close to £100m in their relentless pursuit of success.

"It's very competitive the Premier League," he said. "But we're no more concerned with City than with anyone else.

"Ourselves, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have been looked upon as the top four for the last five or six years. But if you analyse City you'd say 'what's their best team?'. And you'd have to think they'll struggle to get into the top four.

"It would be hard to do that. Aston Villa started very well last season but then fell away. It's hard to stay there." Fergie admitted the loss of Ronaldo was a blow to United's chances of winning a fourth straight title. "Us losing Ronaldo will certainly give teams more encouragement," said Fergie. "They'll all be delighted we've lost him. And there's no doubt he is a huge loss. It won't be the same without Ronaldo. But it's a challenge for us.

"We tried to spend the money from him on Karim Benzema because, at 21, I felt that there would be real improvement there.

"He's tough, has a good physique and a good goalscoring record, so it was worth going that wee bit extra for him because of his age. But when it went to £42m, it was beyond his value. We went to £35m and I think that was fair."

Understandably, United fans have been subdued by the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez, and the arrival of Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan in their place. Fergie's stance over inflated transfer fees may be admirable, but it may also cost United when it comes to winning silverware next season.

Against that backdrop of disillusionment at his summer signings, Fergie once again faces a major challenge, but his belief in Owen's ability to deliver is unequivocal. "It's worth the risk," said Fergie.

"Sometimes you have a punt, a bet or a gamble, and we can carry Michael because I rotate all the time anyway. I won't be asking him to play every four days. I might only ask him to play every 10 days."

One topic still too painful for Fergie to address, was United's 2-0 Champions League Final defeat to Barcelona in Rome last May.

His refusal to reveal his theory confirmed the belief that Fergie held his own players accountable for the loss, rather than accepting Barcelona's superiority on the night.

"Rome was very disappointing," he said. "I know exactly what went wrong, but I'm not going into it. We threw it away, I'll say that. But I don't want to talk about it because it's not worth talking about."

Fergie took a swipe at Manchester City's summer recruitment tactics.

It was claimed City boss Mark Hughes and Chelsea skipper John Terry, his main transfer target, stayed in the same Dubai hotel on holiday.

"I wouldn't be in the same hotel, that's for sure," said Fergie. "I'd be more discreet.

"For some reason they must have known he was interested. I'm sure there have been plenty of phone calls going on."

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