Sir Alex Ferguson today defended Manchester United's transfer policy following the signing of the unheralded Mexican striker Javier Hernández.

In a tacit admission that the club were no longer prepared to splash out on big name players, the United manager said: "Players like Hernández we have been historically very, very good at developing. This is what this club has always done.

"Every summer you will have big name players who are made available by agents. Last summer it was [Franck] Ribéry and [Karim] Benzema." He said of Benzema, who eventually went from Lyon to Real Madrid for £25m: "We were in for one as you know and at 21 he was the right age but as I said before we didn't think we would get value for the transfer fee."

Ferguson said they moved now for Hernández because if he had had a good World Cup his fee, which was undisclosed, would have shot up.

The Guardian revealed today that United had turned down the chance to sign the prolific Spain striker, David Villa, 28, who would have cost up to £40m, because they felt they could not afford such a sum for a player looking for his last contract.

"Occasionally we do go into the transfer market for mature players," insisted Ferguson. "[Dimitar] Berbatov was 27 when he came to us but you have to ask yourself if when a 27-year-old fulfils his contract for five years he will have little resale value."