Rio: We Can Cope Without Ron And Tevez

Speaking to MUTV, Ferdinand believes United's past experience at overcoming the departure of key players will stand the Premier League champions in good stead.

"When you lose any players, your team plays differently no matter who you lose," said Ferdinand.

"We lost two very good players in Cristiano and Carlos, but Manchester United is a club that moves on and has remained a successful side.

"We have done that in recent years when we lost players of the ilk of David Beckham and Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy, (Juan Sebastian) Veron and players like that.

"People thought we would fall by the wayside, but it didn't happen."

Antonio Valencia has been signed from Wigan and Ferdinand feels the Ecuadorian can make an impact after scoring on his debut against Boca Juniors on Wednesday.

Ferdinand added: "I think he will do very well this season. Antonio looks like he is going to be a good buy for us."

United lost on penalties to Bayern Munich in the final of the Audi Cup last night and Ferdinand feels the squad are heading in the right direction.

"I think we showed glimpses of improvement," he said.

"I think the Asia tour has been a very good workout for us physically and today and yesterday were a step up in class in opposition.

"Physically, we are on the road to getting where we want to be for the beginning of the season. I think Asia was a long tour for us physically. We were very tired after that. We now get a couple of days off and then we get back to training and working hard, but we are on the right road."