SIR ALEX Ferguson has declared Manchester United to be the "style" champions of English football, regardless of the destination of the Premiership trophy.

And the Reds' boss has thrown down the gauntlet to opposite number Jose Mourinho, telling him "Next year we will be ready to really take you on."

Ferguson's comments came with Chelsea poised to secure a second successive title, but the United boss could not resist a little dig at the reigning champions' dull but effective style.

"Everyone would always rather watch United, even going back 30 years," he said.

And he feels that the style gap has been shown up by United's recent form: "We have played good football. The goalscoring has been good, with threats from Ruud van Nistelrooy, Louis Saha, whose contribution has been fantastic, and Wayne Rooney.

Jigsaw

"So we have three strikers capable of scoring, which has an impact on results."

Ferguson expressed the belief that the current squad is as good as any he has managed in his 20 years in the hot-seat at Old Trafford - and promised that he will be trying to "improve and develop" the midfield during the summer to fit the final pieces into the jigsaw and reclaim the league title.

After a league run of 10 wins and a draw, plus the collection of the Carling Cup, Ferguson believes he is close to having the best squad in his time at United, with two midfield players being pursued and a group of promising young players approaching first-team contention.

"It's a very, very good squad and in terms of the overall squad I think it is as strong as we have ever had," said Ferguson, on the eve of today's title clash.

"We are happy with the two signings we made in the January transfer window, so defensively if you take Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre, Patrice Evra and then hopefully with Gabriel Heinze coming back to his best, which I am sure he will, it gives us a lot of strength at the back.

"And we have good attacking players, so the area which we are hoping to develop and improve is the midfield area. We have some young players we hope will improve, like David Jones, Richie Jones, Darron Gibson, Kieran Richardson, Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea.

"They are all doing quite well and improving so hopefully we can maintain that and add to the squad in that area as well.

Squad

"Midfield is an area we have been looking at for quite a while and that is a natural progression simply because Roy Keane left the club and for the last two or three years we have been looking for a new Roy Keane. But you don't get these type of players - they are once in a lifetime players. Ryan Giggs is 33 and Paul Scholes is 31 so it's a natural thing to try to look ahead and take a long view of the progress of the club in particular areas of the team. We will have a good team next year and what we need is a reasonable bill of health, which would give us a massive chance.

"Only when we get a reasonable squad ready, and playing, will we show how good we are.

"We have got ideas for the summer as well."

The manager also believes that another season of experience will stand his young players in good stead, and that the failure to beat Sunderland at home on Good Friday will prove to be a key part of the learning curve: "I was optimistic at this time last year and believe that if we hadn't had the injury situation we had at the start of the season we would be there.

"You expect players to grow up. With the ability we have and the youth in the side, you expect them to improve, it is a logical progress. The players are getting better and we should be in a good position next year."

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