Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he admires the bottle Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has shown in the summer market. "They did this thing a few years ago with [Zinedine] Zidane and [Luís] Figo etc," Ferguson said. "It's in their nature to do these things. It's the way they operate. They are not nearly as afraid of debt as everyone else in the world. You also have to applaud them for the system they use in controlling that debt, whether it's a bank or whatever.

"But it's different from us and we're happy the way we operate. No matter what players we have got in, we are still going to be strong next season."