Manchester United made a statement of intent yesterday, in more ways than one. As the deposed English champions comprehensively outplayed their Italian opponents, the chief executive Peter Kenyon effectively placed an embargo on Alex Ferguson making any new signings until he has significantly reduced their wage bill.
While there was plenty for Ferguson to admire about the fluidity of the performance, not least the assuredness of Rio Ferdinand and the impudence of Juan Sebastian Veron, Kenyon's action will have left the manager with conflicting emotions.
Ferguson, who has spent £88 million in 15 months, wants another striker, a full-back and a back-up goalkeeper, and apparently believed that finances were available. However, it is clear from Kenyon that before the manager is permitted to make any further moves in the transfer market he will have to raise some money himself.
Kenyon said: "The reality of the situation is that we cannot keep spending and adding to the squad without selling first."
Ferguson will also be alarmed by a lengthening injury list. Paul Scholes was a notable absentee yesterday, having flown home for a scan on a knee problem he suffered in Friday's 2-1 defeat to Ajax. If the result is serious he may have keyhole surgery today. Fabien Barthez and Ruud van Nistelrooy also missed out because of thigh and shin injuries.
Although this was seen as a precautionary measure, it was still enough to leave Ferguson worrying about the potential implications, with only nine days before their Champions League qualifier against NK Zagreb or the Hungary's Zalzegerszegi.
"I have my team in mind but I want to see how David Beckham and the other England players develop. Sometimes you can have a dip and I can't afford to have any of my players to have that."
Beckham admitted he was tired. "It's taken me a while to get back and my foot is still a little bit sore." Michael Stewart and Bojan Djordic, two of the more promising youngsters, joined the squad over the weekend, along with Ben Williams, a 19-year-old Mancunian elevated to third-choice goalkeeper now Raimond van der Gouw and Paul Rachubka have left the club.
However, by the manager's own admission, their relative inexperience highlights an apparent weakness in his squad that has been largely overlooked amid the hype surrounding Rio Ferdinand's protracted transfer from Leeds United.
Six players have left Old Trafford over the summer - Dwight Yorke, Ronnie Wallwork, Denis Irwin, Ronny Johnsen, Van der Gouw and Rachubka - while Ferdinand was the only addition to the payroll (albeit a significant one) other than Luke Steele, a 17-year-old goalkeeper from Peterborough.
Ferguson, therefore, is embarking on his 17th season at Old Trafford with justifiable reservations, despite the comfortable margin of this victory, about whether his squad is fully equipped for the demands of the next season.
The notion, moreover, that United can pluck Ronaldo away from Internazionale is fanciful beyond belief, and was scoffed at by the club's hierarchy yesterday.
Ferdinand was at his accomplished best yesterday, reading the game astutely and superbly marshalling a youthful defence. Veron, undoubtedly the United player with most to prove, has also played with a renewed vigour in this four-team tournament and was involved in the fluid, passing move after 23 minutes that culminated in Wes Brown, chosen ahead of Phil Neville at right-back, crossing for Ryan Giggs to side-foot in a wonderfully constructed goal.
Indeed, Veron was at the hub of United's most incisive moves and produced the game's finest moment, holding off Paolo Cannavaro to run on to David Beckham's pass and produce an exquisite chip over Sebastien Frey for the second goal five minutes into the second half.
It summed up a United display spoiled only marginally by Diego Forlan's apparent inability to tell the difference between a set of goalposts and a barn door. The same, however, could never be said of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and the Norwegian rounded off a classy performance with an angled header from Beckham's centre.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): Carroll, Brown, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Silvestre (P Neville, 75); Beckham (Djordjic, 78), Veron (Keane, 75), Butt (Stewart, 75), Giggs; Forlan (Pugh, 75), Solskjaer.
PARMA (4-4-2): Frey; Diana, Cannavaro, Bonera, Siviglia; Marchionni (Gresko, 61), Donati, Barone (Lamouchi, 57), Nakata; Bonazolli (Adriano, 57), Di Vaio (Gilardino, 68).
Referee: E Braamhaar (Netherlands).
Guardian Service
