Hands off Ruud

Kenyon said: 'One of Chelsea's problems is going to be that everyone is going to be making a market out of them because they've got some money. It's mindboggling - £71m is something you can't even contemplate getting a return on. Raul is never going to leave Real Madrid anyway.

'Manchester United are recognised as one of the most profitable football clubs and businesses in the industry and that figure would not even register, we could not do that.'

With Chelsea being linked with almost every highly-rated player in the world, Kenyon has been quick to write off any chances of star striker Van Nistelrooy leaving Old Trafford.

'Clearly, Ruud is not for sale at any value from our point of view. He's an essential part of our squad,' insisted the United chief.

'You could not replace a Van Nistelrooy - there isn't another one around. The way that you could measure Ruud is that he is an exception to the rule and we hope he will play for us for many years to come.'

Having beaten Celtic 4-0 in Seattle last Tuesday, United faced Mexican team Club America at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the early hours of this morning after transferring south from their previous base in Portland. Later today, they will fly east to face Juventus in New York before ending the tour against Barcelona in Philadelphia on Sunday.

The unusually high level of opposition and the intensity and quality of their conditioning work at Nike's international HQ at Portland have convinced Ferguson his team will be perfectly prepared to avoid the early season difficulties that have troubled them in the past two years.

Speaking before last night's match, Ferguson said: 'This has been a great exercise for us, absolutely tremendous. It could not have gone better so far. Our fitness levels are good, at the normal level for this stage of the preparation. But the level of the game against Celtic was very high. Normally you take easy games and go to the Far East or Scandinavia. They are smaller and easier games.

'Here we've had a massive crowd and a competitive game and I am sure that will continue. The Celtic game was the first game of that magnitude we have probably ever had in pre-season. It all bodes well for the season. We should start it in great shape.'

Although Ferguson has been troubled during the early part of the tour by the club's failure to sign Brazil striker Ronaldinho and the publicity attracted by the absence of David Beckham, he appeared to be a good deal more relaxed as his team trained in Californian sunshine for today's game.

His players are enjoying the climate and - one senses - the almost complete anonymity afforded them in America, and there are already suggestions that United will use the facility as a regular training base.

Ferguson added: 'The training camp has provided everything we could have wished for and I think it is the best we've ever had.'