Ferdinand transfer fills rivals with fear

Ferguson defends Old Trafford's right to be 'best of the best' as £30m deal reinforces his desire to reclaim title

Having broken the British transfer record for the third successive time, Sir Alex Ferguson rounded on those who believed that Manchester United's financial muscle would unbalance the Premiership.

United's enormous turnover and lack of debt allowed them to pay Leeds United £30m for Rio Ferdinand, who yesterday signed a five-year contract worth an estimated £18.2m. This summer no club has laid out more than £8.5m for a player.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, who, when winning the title at Old Trafford in May, predicted a decisive shift in the balance of power in English football, said Leeds' decision to sell Ferdinand virtually handed the Premiership title to United while the Leeds manager, Terry Venables, criticised the Manchester club for "seeming to think they are entitled to everything".

Ferguson, stung by his failure to win a trophy for the first time in four years, said: "It is important to remember that, despite what some people think, we have every right to improve ourselves. We have the right to be the best of the best. There is nothing wrong with that. It doesn't matter what your view of Manchester United is. There is a thirst among the players and there was disappointment here last season. We hope to make amends for that."

The Manchester United manager, who last summer spent £47m bringing Juan Sebastian Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy to Old Trafford, conceded that a "difficult transfer" had been eased by Leeds' need to reduce their debts.

"Leeds are a big club, big rivals to us and Ferdinand had four years left on his contract. These were massive hurdles but we were hopeful because of Leeds United's financial position and because Rio wanted to come here."

On a day when the German champions, Borussia Dortmund, demanded their players take a wage cut because of reduced television revenue, Ferguson also referred to difficulties in Serie A, whose members lost more than £400m last year.

Because he has had just one training session since the World Cup, Ferdinand will not make his debut in a red shirt until the Amsterdam Tournament next month when United are due to play Ajax and Parma. However, he admitted that Leeds' statement that he was too stressed to join their tour of Australia and the Far East was a cover and that the reality was that he did not want an exhausting flight in the middle of transfer negotiations.

Ferguson might have saved United a lot of money had he succeeded in his first attempt to sign Ferdinand, then 17, when he was playing for Bourne-mouth, though the United manager did not realise he was on loan at the time. "I thought he was Mel Machin's player," said Ferguson. "I phoned him and said: 'I'm about to give you some money'. Mel said he wasn't his player to sell; he was on loan from West Ham. I went back to West Ham and the answer was a straight no."

Ferguson admitted he was not in a position to intervene when West Ham eventually sold Ferdinand to Leeds for £18m in November 2000 since Ronny Johnsen, Jaap Stam and Wes Brown – one of Ferdinand's closest friends in football – were already at Old Trafford. Of these centre-halves, only Brown remains, although yesterday Ferguson hinted that Ferdinand's initial defensive partner is likely to be Laurent Blanc,.

"Improvement is the key word here," said the United manager. "He is 23 years of age and we are confident he will mature and develop into one of the best centre-halves in the world. His ability on the ball has been there to see since he was a kid. To understand the fee, you have to look at his age, his nationality, his position and potential. Then the rest is easy."