Fergie won't fight Chelsea

This spending spree has sparked concern within the game and Birmingham City's David Gold today became the first Premiership chairman to voice fears about the impact on other clubs.

He said: "There seemed to be a bit of common sense coming back into the game but Chelsea's spending has given us a problem. We've spent £5.5m on David Dunn from Blackburn and that's all our money.

"Our fans were happy with what we had done but, all of a sudden, it's not enough. The expectation of the fans is on a different level. When clubs are talking about billionaires coming in, your fan-base then becomes dissatisfied. It is a concern for clubs such as ours and creates problems for smaller clubs."

The two newest recruits at Stamford Bridge, Duff (£17m) and Wayne Bridge (£7m) joined the rest of the Chelsea squad in Malaysia today to prepare for the Asia Cup.

The four-team tournament starts tomorrow, when Newcastle play Birmingham.

The Malaysia national team make up the quartet.

Newcastle chairman Freddie Shepherd today moved to end speculation that England midfielder Kieron Dyer would be the next big-money arrival at Chelsea.

Shepherd said: "Kieron Dyer is not for sale. Every player has his price but we don't want to sell him and Chelsea don't have enough 'roubles' to buy him."

Chelsea chairman Ken Bates, who confirmed that his role at Stamford Bridge remains unchanged, defended the club's new policy when he said: "We haven't spent that much. Up to now we've bought four players for a total of £34m, which is only £4m more than Manchester United spent on Rio Ferdinand.

"Last season Claudio Ranieri didn't spend a penny and we improved from sixth to fourth place in the Premiership. Because of players released at the end of last season we're a bit thin in certain areas."

Bates insisted there was no added pressure on Ranieri. "He has a proven track record at Chelsea and before," he said.