Seven days after Cristiano Ronaldo was presented in front of 80,000 spectators in Madrid, Sir Alex Ferguson, sitting alongside his three new signings in a less than packed press conference in Manchester United's youth academy building, suggested that Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia would be this summer's top-line acquisitions at Old Trafford.

United tried to sign Karim Benzema, the France forward, and made tentative inquiries about Franck Ribéry after selling Ronaldo to Real for a world-record fee of £80million, but Ferguson said that the prices he has been quoted in his search for top-class reinforcements have “shot sky high”.

He chose not to mention that Benzema preferred to leave Lyons for Real for £35million and that Ribéry, valued at £60million by Bayern Munich, expects to move to Real next summer. However, in any case, he felt that the fees quoted were exorbitant, hence the cut-price deal for Owen, on a free transfer from Newcastle United, as well as the £16million capture of Valencia from Wigan Athletic.

“Benzema was a possibility, but as far as we were concerned, it was beyond our value,” Ferguson said. “If other clubs want to go to that, then that's entirely their business. Maybe Lyons thought we undervalued him, but that's their decision. We had a value and didn't want to go above that position. They have done well to get €41million [about £35million] for him and they will be happy with that.

“As soon as that one didn't work, we went for Michael. People have got to try and put a value on players which they think is fair. We have always had to pay a bit extra and this summer we were not prepared to do that. What this tells you is that Manchester United are sensible.”

Another theory is that United are constrained by the enormous debts incurred by the Glazer family when they bought the club in 2005.

Ferguson said, with reference to Real's spending, that “it depends how comfortable you are with debt”, and that the Spanish club “are not nearly as afraid of debt as anyone else in the world”.

This was not said with reference to United's financial position - the debts of their parent company, Red Football Joint Venture Ltd, had risen to £649.4million at the last count - but the words, which reflect his reluctance to spend more than a quarter of the £80million fee for Ronaldo, are certain to fuel the persistent anti-Glazer feeling among the club's supporters.

“That concludes our business,” Ferguson said, neglecting to mention that negotiations are continuing with Grêmio over a deal to sign Douglas Costa, the Brazil Under-20 forward. “We are in the middle of a difficult summer in football,” he said. “It's difficult to get value, but I think we've got good value in these three [Owen, Valencia and Gabriel Obertan, the former Bordeaux midfield player] and it is the right way to go for us.

“The £80million figure was what we always wanted for Ronaldo. It was non-negotiable. But there was no need to have a kneejerk reaction to losing him. There is no need to panic. We have some good young players in all positions so what I have done is bring in youth in Antonio and Gabriel and an old codger in Michael.”

The “old codger”, at 29, attracted by far the most interest of the new signings. Owen, allocatedthe No7 shirt previously worn by icons such as George Best,Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Ronaldo, was eager to dispel the idea that it was only Ferguson's intervention that had saved him from a choice between Hull City and Stoke City. “There were more good clubs interested than you might have been led to believe,” he said.

Owen remains bruised by Rafael Benítez's unwillingness to offer him a return to Liverpool and by his exclusion from Fabio Capello's England squad for the whole of last season, but Ferguson stated categorically that the forward “will score goals for Manchester United”, which is essential if his team are to begin to meet the shortfall left by Ronaldo's departure.