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'It has been disappointing that we haven't secured anyone yet.
'But it won't be the case that we will go into the season with less players in the squad. We will have new players in place.'
Ferguson acknowledged that any cross-Pennine move for Ferdinand was 'not clear-cut'.
'The Rio Ferdinand thing is an issue and we are waiting on things developing at the moment.
'It is not our job to antagonise people and there'll be no war of words but Leeds have said themselves that we are the club that has talked to them about Rio so it is no secret. If he's available then we'd be interested.
'We will work away and we have alternatives and other thoughts.'
Ferguson admitted that his target list was limited, and his pursuit of certain players had not been helped by impressive performances at the World Cup.
While Ferdinand starred for England, Blackburn's versatile Republic of Ireland striker Damien Duff, another to have been linked with United, also caught the eye at Korea-Japan.
Ferguson continued: 'With the quality and type of player we want to bring to the club you only have a list of four or five players who are operating at the highest level who you feel would could come here and enhance the team.