The Scot rules out the possibility of either young Englishmen leaving the club for the short-term future, believing they have an important role to play at Old Trafford.
By Ryan Benson
Jul 19, 2011 4:32:00 PM
Both players experienced loans last season with Cleverley impressing at Wigan Athletic, while Welbeck earned his first England cap on-loan at Sunderland.
The two Englishmen were understood to be attracting interest from a variety of clubs with Welbeck particularly interesting Bolton and the club he spent last season with; Sunderland.
However, their manager has ruled out any potential moves, stating that both will remain at United for the coming season.
“They won't go on loan again," he told reporters.
"Going on loan only serves one purpose; keeping them happy by playing all the time.
"At their ages, it wouldn't do us any good because other clubs would be benefiting from what we could be benefiting from. Because of the experience they have had, keeping them now benefits us."
"Welbeck is an England international now. He is an exceptional talent. And Cleverley will play for England too.
"He is an intelligent modern-day footballer. His movement and understanding of space is really good for a young player.
"We are happy both of them will stay with us."
The Old Trafford club look as though they will head into the new season with a larger than normal squad despite the retirement of several players, however, Ferguson isn’t worried about any potential selection headaches, stating he would rather have them than not.
Ferguson continued: "To operate next season with 26 or 27 players is not a handicap to me, it is an advantage.
"Yes, players will be disappointed they are not playing some weeks. But at the end of the day, it will help.
"By the time we get to the end of May next season, we will have done well."
He also went on to talk about the deal which brought defender Phil Jones to Old Trafford from Blackburn, stating that the only problem that stood in the way of the transfer was trying to convince Jones he would get first-team football.
"The area we had to work hardest with Phil was to convince him he would get enough football.
"The first thing you can say is last season Nani played the most games for us, with 48. He was still 11 short of the maximum.
"No-one at United is going to play the maximum number of games. Rio Ferdinand only played 29 and Nemanja Vidic missed some as well."
"The other thing I explained to him was that we are always trying to look ahead towards the team of the future rather than the team of the present," said Ferguson.
"We expect the team of the present to fulfil their responsibilities but the team of the future is the one that is growing while the other one is doing the business."
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