Sir Alex Ferguson has handed Michael Owen the Manchester United number seven shirt - and declared Old Trafford closed for transfer business.

It was anticipated Ferguson would make further signings in addition to Owen, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan, who joined last week from Bordeaux.

But, faced with a market over-inflated by Real Madrid and Manchester City, Ferguson has decided his current squad is good enough to challenge for an unprecedented fourth consecutive league title, even though Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez have left.

He said: “It is the end of our business, so all these stories about who we are supposed to be getting - forget it.”

It means Owen will take over Ronaldo’s shirt and his place in an attacking line-up containing Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, plus youngsters Daniel Welbeck and Federico Macheda, who will both be given a chance to prove they are worthy of the accolades that have been bestowed on them.

“They are both young players - but young players with ability always get a chance here.”

Inter Milan’s Sweden international striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has claimed Chelsea want to sign him.

Ibrahimovic, whose Inter coach Jose Mourinho used to be in charge at Stamford Bridge, has revealed that money will not be the main motivating factor in any move after being linked with a £60million switch to the Barclays Premier League.

Ibrahimovic said: “I am fully aware that Chelsea want to sign me and, of course, it is very flattering. They are one of the biggest teams in Europe and the Premier League is one of the best leagues in the world.

“Money is not the most important thing, I will base my decision on what’s good for me, what suits me.”

He told the News of the World: “Money is not the most important thing. I will base my decision on what’s good for me, what suits me.

“It is about asking: will I still be able to be special in the league that I am going to, to the team that I am going to?

“Are my qualities right for the Premier League or not?”

John Terry reportedly told Roman Abramovich that he wants to talk to Manchester City about a possible £50m move.

The Chelsea captain met with the club’s Russian owner on Saturday afternoon and - according to reports in several Sunday papers - told him that he wants the chance to discuss a move to the world’s richest club.

The Sunday Times reports that Terry was told that the club would not match City’s offer of £250,000 a week, and that he would have to hand in a transfer request to engineer a move north.

Abramovich is allegedly willing to make Terry the highest-paid player at the club but will not pay him significantly more than current high earner Frank Lampard.

City apparently remain confident that they will sign Terry, with a £5m signing-on fee sweetening the deal, according to the News of the World.

They also suggest that any money recouped from the sale of Terry would be ploughed into a move for AC Milan’s Alexandre Pato.

Manchester City have officially ended their pursuit of Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o.

The club confirmed they had given up hope of signing the Cameroon international on their website.

Chief executive Garry Cook said: “Samuel Eto’o is undoubtedly a fine footballer but the circumstances surrounding him were such that the deal could not be completed.

“We now feel the time is right to pursue other avenues and we have a clear and strategic transfer plan, which we continue to follow.”

It seemed the striker was bound for Eastlands a fortnight ago, when Barcelona accepted a bid for the star, who scored in last season’s Champions League final triumph against Manchester United.

However, the deal quickly became mired in a contractual dispute between Eto’o and the Catalan outfit.

The player, who is about to embark on the last year of his contract at the Nou Camp, felt he should receive a significant portion of the £18million City were willing to pay as he would be entitled to leave for nothing next summer.

Blues boss Mark Hughes initially signalled his intention to wait for Eto’o to resolve the wrangle.

Yet, as the week has dragged on, the argument just got more confusing and complicated.

It was suggested City were ready to offer Eto’o a deadline of this weekend to determine his future.

In the end, chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak did not even give the 28-year-old that long, with Barcelona officially contacted on Friday with confirmation the deal was off.

While it could be viewed the latest development is merely posturing on City’s part, privately the club are adamant the transfer is now highly unlikely to go ahead.

To an extent, they understand Eto’o’s demands. However, they also feel a contract said to be worth around £200,000 a week was alone enough to keep Eto’o happy and are unwilling to let the situation drag on any longer.

After returning from a pre-season training camp in Germany, City are due to head for South Africa on Wednesday lunchtime for a three-match tour that will begin preparations for a new campaign that opens at Blackburn on August 15.

City have already signed Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn to bolster their forward line this summer, but have loaned out Brazilian Jo to Everton on a season-long loan.

They have also ben linked with moves for the out-of-contract Carlos Tevez and Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi, both of whom are former Manchester United players.

In defence, City have been trying to sign Chelsea captain John Terry, while they have also been linked with Everton’s Joleon Lescott.

John Terry will reportedly be offered a £25,000-a-week pay rise to ward off interest from Manchester City.

The Daily Mirror claims that Chelsea will make Terry the highest-paid player at Stamford Bridge with a £7.7m-a-year offer.

That figure would still see Terry earning around half of the money reportedly offered by Manchester City.

The England captain returns to training this week to meet new boss Carlo Ancelotti for the first time and is expected to be met with a new contract offer.

Chairman Bruce Buck said: “My line as a Chelsea fan, is that I would be devastated if John Terry left Chelsea. Having said that, it’s not going to happen. John Terry is synonymous with Chelsea and Chelsea is synonymous with John Terry.

“He has been here since he was a wee tot, he is the captain of Chelsea, he is the captain of England, he is the backbone of our team, he is not leaving.”

Real Zaragoza have completed the signing of winger Jermaine Pennant after his release by Liverpool at the end of his contract.

The former Arsenal youngster passed a medical with the Spanish outfit on Thursday and will join their bid for survival next season after being promoted back to the Primera Division.

The 26-year-old becomes Zaragoza’s first signing of the summer and joins on a three-year deal.

Pennant told the club’s website: “I wanted to come to Spain and I had offers from important teams in Europe but joined Real Zaragoza.

“I really want to get started and do well in the league.”

Pennant spent time on loan at Portsmouth last season after being frozen out at Anfield.

The former England Under-21 winger impressed for Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final defeat by AC Milan but found opportunities increasingly limited from then on.

Karim Benzema revealed he rejected advances from Manchester United before opting for his “dream” move to Real Madrid.

Benzema established himself as one of Europe’s hottest properties during his time at Lyon, for whom he scored 54 competitive goals in the last two seasons, and he was regularly linked with some of the continent’s biggest clubs.

Madrid won the race for the France international after having a 35million euros bid accepted by Lyon last week, but while Benzema insists the Spanish giants were always his top choice, he confirmed they were not his only suitors.

When asked what other teams were keen on him, Benzema said: “There were quite a few clubs that contacted me like Manchester (United), Inter Milan and Barcelona, but I decided to come here.

“Real Madrid are an excellent club. I’ve dreamt about playing here since I was 15 years old.

“Florentino (Madrid president Perez) spoke to me about the team and the project that he wanted to create. I wanted to play at Real Madrid anyway so he didn’t have to convince me of hardly anything.”

Benzema is the the fourth new arrival to be unveiled by the Spanish giants since Perez returned to the presidency at the start of June, following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Raul Albiol.

An estimated 90,000 people turned up for Ronaldo’s presentation at the Bernabeu on Monday, while around 55,000 were in attendance for Kaka’s unveiling last week.

The amount of people that watched Benzema’s presentation on Thursday night was considerably less than those two players, with around 20,000 in the stands, but the Frenchman was still delighted with his reception and immediately endeared himself to the fans by repeatedly kissing the Madrid badge.

“It was very exciting. Real Madrid fans have a special relationship with the players and I am very grateful for that,” he said.

“I felt some strong emotions today and that’s why I kissed the badge.”

Benzema, who has not yet been given a shirt number at his new club, was a prolific scorer with Lyon and he is confident he can be a regular marksman at Madrid as well - if he can secure himself a place in what is promising to be a star-studded line-up.

“I don’t want to promise a set number of goals, although I hope to score a lot. With players like Kaka, (Cristiano) Ronaldo and Raul it will be very easy for us to get goals,” said Benzema, whose signing takes Madrid’s spending this summer towards the £200million mark.

“I’m aware that there is great competition at the club and maybe I cannot always play, but I’ve come here to fight, so it’s not going to be a problem.”

Porto defender Bruno Alves admits he is tempted by a move to the Premier League, and claims he is “aware” of interest from Chelsea.

The Portugal international is expected to leave the Estadio do Dragao this summer after some sterling performances for Porto.

The 27-year-old was a late bloomer in football terms having only become a first-team regular at the Portuguese champions in the last three seasons.

Alves was tipped to move to Real Madrid at the end of the season but it now appears Chelsea could look to sign him as a replacement for Ricardo Carvalho.

However, as Alves reveals, they could face stiff competition from Barcelona.

“I’m open to a move to England. I’m aware of Chelsea’s interest and also Barcelona,” he told the Daily Mail.

“But I’m under contract to Porto and any decision comes down to the club.”

Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud has revealed that winger Gabriel Obertan is on the verge of signing for Manchester United.

The highly rated 20-year-old became a regular for Les Girondins at the just 17 but last season found chances hard to come by under former Red Devils defender Laurent Blanc.

The French Under-21 international was loaned out to fellow Ligue 1 side Lorient for the second half of last season where he featured 15 times scoring just the one goal.

Arsenal, Inter and AC Milan are said to have been interested in the youngster but it appears United have won the race for his signature for an undisclosed fee.

“There is a very strong likelihood that the deal will go ahead,” confirmed Triaud to L’Equipe.

“Manchester United want to sign him and, for our part, we would be delighted to see Gabriel playing for such a prestigious club.

“We will make the official announcement when the time is right,”

Michael Owen has sealed his shock move to Manchester United, signing a two-year contract to keep him at Old Trafford until June 2012.

Michael Owen has moved to Manchester United after his contract ended with New Castle United he has joined Manchester United for a free transfer.

The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and England striker completed a series of stringent medical tests this evening and has signed a two-year deal with the Barclays Premier League champions.

Owen, 29, had earlier spent the day at United’s Carrington training complex as the terms of his free transfer were thrashed out, after he lapsed out of contract with Newcastle at the end of last month.

Speaking on the club’s website, Sir Alex Ferguson said: “Michael is a world class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question. Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish.”

Owen himself admitted that the move had come ‘out of the blue. “I had just begun to talk to other clubs when out of the blue Sir Alex phoned me on Wednesday afternoon, invited me to have breakfast with him the next morning during which he told me that he wanted to sign me. I agreed without a moment’s thought,” he said.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I intend to seize it with both hands.

“I am now looking forward to being a Manchester United player and I am fortunate that I already know so many of the players here. I missed pre-season last year and am pleased that I will be starting at Carrington from day one.

“I want to thank Sir Alex for the faith he has shown in me and I give him my assurance that I will repay him with my goals and performances”

Owen had undergone a medical examination yesterday to assess the troublesome knee which had sidelined him for much of his stay at St James’ Park.

Despite his previous injury problems the deal represents little risk to Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who has been a long-time admirer of the 29-year-old.

“Michael is a world class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question,” said the United boss.

“Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish.”

It is believed Ferguson has struck a pay-as-you-play deal which will involve a basic weekly wage enhanced by bonuses.

The player has taken a significant pay cut from the £110,000 he was reported to be on at Newcastle, for whom he scored 10 goals as they were relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship last season.

But it is the lure of playing for the champions, with the promise of Champions League football again, which excites Owen now as he tries to force his way back into the reckoning with England coach Fabio Capello.

Owen admitted United’s approach came as much as a shock to him as it did the rest of football.

“I had just begun to talk to other clubs when out of the blue Sir Alex phoned me on Wednesday afternoon, invited me to have breakfast with him next morning during which he told me that he wanted to sign me,” he said.

“I agreed without a moment’s thought. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I intend to seize it with both hands.

“I am now looking forward to being a Manchester United player and I am fortunate that I already know so many of the players here.

“I missed pre-season last year and am pleased that I will be starting at Carrington from day one.

“I want to thank Sir Alex for the faith he has shown in me and I give him my assurance that I will repay him with my goals and performances.”