Manchester United have made a long-term decision not to sign any players aged 26 or above for large transfer fees because of new financial stipulations that have been put in place at Old Trafford to shape the club's recruitment policy. Dimitar Berbatov, who was 27 when he signed from Tottenham Hotspur last September, has been described as the "last of his kind" in a move that has immediate implications for their attempts to replace Cristiano Ronaldo.

The restrictions automatically mean that Sir Alex Ferguson's admiration for Franck Ribéry will not manifest itself in a concerted attempt to sign the France international. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich's chairman, said yesterday that United, Chelsea and Barcelona had all lodged bids but the Premier League champions say that is not true.

Instead, the policy from now onwards isthat the club will have a strict age-before-ability approach in which they will sign players in big-money deals only if they will retain a significant market value some years after signing a five- or six-year contract.