You can’t teach an old dog new tricks but some are perfectly capable of learning things for themselves. Sir Alex Ferguson went into the summer looking for a playmaker and a winger, just as he did on the last occasion Manchester United won the Premiership. Then, following the 2002-03 season, his targets were Ronaldinho and Damien Duff. Their clubs, Paris Saint Germain and Blackburn, wanted big prices and the players themselves had high wage demands but Ferguson was willing to play the waiting game.

He waited and waited until, in late July, deals were done. But those deals involved Ronaldinho going to Barcelona and Duff to Chelsea. Like a Wag gazumped over a designer handbag, Ferguson indulged in some hasty and indignant comfort shopping.

Kleberson, like a £5.93m pair of Jimmy Choos, arrived. A rotten buy. Ferguson then found himself pressured into bringing forward the purchase of an item he had originally intended leaving on the shelf for later. He paid more than expected too: the trouble was that other shoppers had become interested, among them Arsenal. Iin these unpromising circumstances a new transfer policy was born.

United’s £12.24m purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo in August 2003 was to create a fresh model for Ferguson. From Ronaldo’s success, the old dog divined that rather than chasing the Ronaldinho of right now it may be better to get the Ronaldinho of tomorrow. We are not talking about taking long-term gambles on obscure kids - nobody is going to beat Arsène Wenger when it comes to that - but purchasing upcoming stars after they have become established but before their prices spiral.

The next year Ferguson spent £20m on Wayne Rooney, with £7m of add-ons to be paid depending on the signing’s success. Rooney, like Ronaldo, was 18 when he joined United. Since then, Ferguson has bought Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra at 24, a young age for defenders, and Ben Foster, the goalkeeper, when he was 22. You would get £45m for Ronaldo now, £40m for Rooney and £25m for Vidic, Evra and Foster, who cost £12m combined. And with the exception of Foster, they have been vital to bringing Ferguson the even greater profit of a championship.

United’s £35m grab of Portuguese winger Nani and Brazilian playmaker Anderson, demonstrate how Ronaldo became Ferguson’s blueprint for future United transfers. Nani is 20, Anderson 19, each with a status similar to Ronaldo’s in 2003, and both even came from Portuguese clubs. Though their fees appear high, a significant portion is made up, as with the Rooney deal, by success-related increments that United will be more than happy to pay if these players bring silverware to Old Trafford.

The transfers will also have a major effect on other clubs. With a £17m deal for Owen Hargreaves finally completed after 12 months of negotiation, the champions have spent more than £50m before the summer market has even opened in earnest, putting real pressure on the teams hoping to catch them.

Not only does it mean fans of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool now expect action, but it will be more difficult than before for them to do deals. The summer market is usually influenced by keynote deals and, by paying high fees for two young players, neither of whom are established internationals, United have set a benchmark that selling clubs will try to use when Jose Mourinho, Wenger and Rafael BenÍtez come calling for their players. BenÍtez fancies Simao Sabrosa? You can hear Benfica saying: “If Nani, with five caps, is worth £18m, how much for our player, who has 48?”

Big European clubs, notably Juventus, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, also have big transfer budgets, driving prices for the top players further upwards. If a statement by Mourinho can be treated as nonpolitical (something you can only ever do with care) then Chelsea will respond to these heightened market conditions by doing next to nothing. On Friday they completed the free transfer of Claudio Pizarro from Bayern Munich. The 28-year-old Peruvian has spent recent seasons in Munich as a deluxe back-up striker, a role he is likely to adopt at Stamford Bridge, where he has the quality to fill in for Didier Drogba when the Ivory Coast forward is at the African Nations Cup.

Chelsea’s other dealings have involved buying Alex for $1, acquiring Steven Sidwell on a Bosman, and paying £200,000 for a 16-year-old Oldham prospect, Danny Philliskirk. “The change is not because Mr Abram-ovich turned off the tap,” Mourinho said. “The philosophy is we spent money before, built the squad for a long time and don’t need to make big investments season after season.”

Mourinho, who drew indignant strength from being denied reinforcements in the January transfer window, and is prickly about being tarred as a big-spending manager, may relish the opportunity to show what he can do on a budget.

His idea that his squad is good enough at full strength is based on Chelsea’s record against United in head-to-heads, and form in the second half of 2006-07, but also rests on certain assumptions – that Drogba can have another season like his last one, that Frank Lampard’s loss of form is a blip, that youngsters like Arjen Robben, Jon Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou can become consistent, and that more can be squeezed from Claude Makelele’s little old legs. Mourinho does still want a striker but was rebuffed when he asked for money to sign Benni McCarthy, for whom Blackburn would want at least £8m.

Wenger wants to enhance Arsenal but Real Madrid are in for one of his targets, Franck Ribery, and Barcelona’s renewed efforts to sign Thierry Henry are serious. Henry has been making the kind of noises (about “ambition” and “frustra-tion”) that opens the ears of suitors and the idea of an Henry-Samuel Eto’o swap (plus cash heading Barcelona’s way) may be explored should Wenger, as he did with Patrick Vieira, finally call Henry’s bluff.

BenÍtez is said to be ready to pay £35m for Eto’o even though he has reservations about the entourage who follow Eto’o around. Closer to fruition is a £10m deal for Florent Malouda, the Lyon winger, whose pace, dribbling and crossing ability would give Liverpool an option neither the departing Bolo Zenden nor Mark Gonzalez could provide on the left.

£34m double act

Anderson

Name: Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira, aka Anderson

Nationality Brazilian

Age 19

An attacking midfielder, frequently likened to Ronaldinho, a fellow native of Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil. Like Ronaldinho, Anderson began his career with the Gremio club of Porto Alegre, and followed a long line of Brazilian playmakers to Porto in Portugal. He made his first-team debut for Gremio aged 15, and scored a free kick in the Porto Alegre derby against Internacional that shot him to fame. Best player at the last under 17 World Championships, by which time Porto already had a deal in place, to the irritation of European heavyweights, including Barcelona.

Despite a domestic season disrupted by injury, has been called up for the senior Brazil squad to compete in the Copa America in Venezuela later this month

Nani

Name Luis Carlos Almeida da Cunha, aka Nani

Born Cape Verde Islands

Nationality Portuguese

Age 20

A winger noted for his speed and close control, he is often compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, who also joined United from Sporting Lisbon. Born in the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, but spent most of his childhood in Lisbon, the city to which his parents emigrated. Made his Portuguese Superliga debut for Sporting aged 18 and scored on his first appearance for the senior Portugal national team, Luis Felipe Scolari having given him his debut against Denmark last September. Likes to celebrate scoring with multiple backflips