Sir Alex Ferguson rules out new signings to ease Manchester United defensive woes

Manchester United's second defeat in three games, 3-0 at Fulham on Saturday, left them four points adrift of Premier League leaders Chelsea. Ferguson is acutely aware that unless United's form improves quickly, they can forget about a record fourth consecutive title. With seven senior defenders Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, John O'Shea, Gary Neville and Rafael Da Silva out of action, plus keeper Edwin van der Sar, it was felt Ferguson may make an emergency signing, even though he had already ruled out the possibility of out-of-contract Sol Campbell joining on a short-term basis. However, with the majority of his players due back at some point next month, Ferguson will not be making any additions. 'That has not come on to the agenda,' he said. 'We hope that Wes Brown will be back in a week or 10 days' time, Rio Ferdinand is improving, Gary Neville is getting there and Rafael Da Silva has now started training. 'We are not so bad and we are not looking at signing players.'Under the circumstances, Ferguson is probably relieved that United's festive programme has been pushed back from the planned timescale. What would have been a Boxing Day trip to Hull will now take place on Dec 27, with the home encounter against Wigan now not being played until Dec 30. United should be confident of getting maximum points from those two games, even with a weakened line-up, after which they are not in league action again until Jan 9, when they face in-form Birmingham at St Andrew's. Despite the denial, Ferguson continues to be linked with new faces. Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey is believed to be being monitored by United, who have still not been informed by Van der Sar whether he is going to extend his career by another season. Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa is also said to be on Ferguson's radar and is available following a row with coach Didier Deschamps.

Source: Telegraph