EVENING NEWS PLAYS GLAZER'S TUNE

Alex Ferguson has been armed with a 'money no object' war chest by the Glazer family to overhaul Chelsea. The summer transfer scramble is officially up and running with Jose Mourinho's double champions landing one-time Old Trafford target Michael Ballack.

The German skipper has moved from Bayern Munich to Stamford Bridge on a free transfer but Roman Abramovich's bottomless wallet will fund his massive wage packet -thought to be £130,000 a week - that will make him the highest-paid player in Britain.

With the back-to-back title winners also bidding to land £30m-plus striker Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan, Mourinho has declared his intent.

But the Reds are poised to hit back with significant moves in the transfer market. And Old Trafford's American owners are backing Fergie's quest with hard cash.

"If Sir Alex Ferguson really wants a certain player then the Glazers would be willing to push whatever button required to get that player," a spokesman for the Americans told M.E.N. Sport.

Lyon want £24m for Mali international Diarra and Fergie has already fired a warning that when United's name is in the frame, the cost rises.

Reds fans remain sceptical about how the American owners can fund a considerable transfer kitty when their £790m purchase of the club saddled United with an estimated £540m debt.

But the Glazers have already shelled out £18m for Edwin van der Sar, Ji-sung Park, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra since taking over the club 12 months ago.

"The debt has no bearing on expenditure," the Glazer's spokesman added. "The money available for the transfer budget comes out of cash flow from the club. There is cash around and a portion of that can go towards transfer fees.

"Of course the only way to demonstrate that to the fans is by spending money during the summer for the players the manager identifies. We will have to wait and see what happens on that."