The Red Devils lost the services of England captain David Beckham to Real Madrid for £25 million before the start of the 2003/2004 season and many say that sale was the main reason for United's below-par season to their high standards.

"He (Beckham) was so accurate it was like he had a hand instead of a foot and we do miss him despite what some may think." said Frenchman Silvestre.

"His absence isn't the only reason we have dropped our standards, but it is definitely one of them."

Sir Alex Ferguson also decided to offload Juan Veron to Chelsea for £15 million and suffered a major blow by failing to reach a deal with French outfit PSG for Brazilian ace Ronaldinho- who moved to Barcelona.

But Fergie did make up for some losses in the summer by signing Eric Djemba-Djemba for £3.5 million, David Bellion for a compensational fee of £2million and Brazilian World Cup winner for just under £6 million - but all have failed to make an impact at Old Trafford.

"A lot of new guys have come in but they haven't delivered in the way we would have hoped," he continued.

Only two summer signings have impressed so far this season. American goalkeeper Tim Howard had a great season until a few weeks ago and Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo has been good down the wing.