United intend to sign 3 first-team players this summer
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he wants to sign three new players this summer.
"We have some ideas in mind and hopefully can get them put in place," Ferguson told MUTV.
"I am looking at maybe three signings which would boost our overall quality in our team."
The club's chief executive, David Gill, admitted that United would be "slightly busier than normal" in the transfer market this summer.
Full-back Gary Neville announced his retirement from football in February following 19 years in United's first-team squad, goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will retire after the Champions League final against Barcelona on 28 May and midfielder Paul Scholes has yet to confirm whether he will play on next season.
Ferguson said: "We have Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes coming towards the end of their careers, Gary Neville has already retired and Edwin van der Sar is retiring, so there are holes we want to plug up in terms of the safety and security of the team for the next few years.
"Of course, we have some excellent young players and a lot of them have progressed, which gives us a great, powerful squad."
Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley are likely to be given chances by Ferguson after impressing during loan spells this season, with Sunderland and Wigan respectively.
United have been linked with Atletico Madrid's 20-year-old keeper David De Gea, Aston Villa's Ashley Young and Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder.
Gill told MUTV: "We have been working very hard over the course of the last 12 months to plan which positions we need to fill, identifying those players and trying to work on it.
"What Alex Ferguson has done very successfully for nearly 25 years is to reinvent the team slowly and integrate them within the established stars. That is what we will continue to do.
"It gives a buzz to everyone at the club when you bring in high quality players. It is something we look forward to with relish."
Sounds to me like they will go out and get a goalkeeper, a right back, and a creative midfielder. Wouldn't shock me if they got De Gea and Sneijder, in fact, I fully expect them to, I can't think of a suitable right back, but I'm sure they can. I hope they aren't looking for a wide player as well, but they probably are.
I have to admit I find the whole thing very worrying. City will spend, Chelsea will spend, Liverpool will spend, we will be in trouble if we don't break the habit of the last few seasons.
That's the difference between them and us when it comes to young players, Ferguson will toss you aside in a heartbeat of he thinks for one second you are damaging the chances of the team winning and that isn't going to change very quickly. Rafael and Fabio are good players, but a million miles away from top class right backs. The same with Anderson or Ben Foster, and so on. That's why young players will generally join us ahead of them - not that I suppose that's really something to brag about.
Bottom line is our rivals have far too much money and ambition for us to win anythgin continuing how we are going. We have to take more risks or we're not going to get near trophies. We're still going to be at a significant disadvantage financially, but we've got to do more.
