Sir Alex Ferguson handed Michael Owen the prized Manchester United number seven shirt and then declared Old Trafford closed for transfer business.

It was anticipated Ferguson would make further signings in addition to Owen, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan, who joined last week from Bordeaux.

But, faced with a market over-inflated by Real Madrid and Manchester City, Ferguson has decided his current squad is good enough to challenge for an unprecedented fourth consecutive league title, even though Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez have left.

He said: “It is the end of our business, so all these stories about who were are supposed to be getting - forget it.”

Ferguson confirmed he made a bid for Karim Benzema, only to be rebuffed by the Lyon man, who instead became part of Real Madrid’s extraordinary spending spree.

But Ferguson refuses to be drawn into a bidding war for any player beyond the level he thinks is acceptable.

He added: “I feel we have a good squad, which meant there was no need for knee-jerk reactions.

“We asked about Benzema but I think we took a sensible view.”