Less than three months after lifting the Barclays Premier League trophy, Manchester United are preparing to do it all again.

There have been some dramatic changes.

Gone are Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes, both now retired, their vast contribution to United consigned to the history books.

Owen Hargreaves has left as well, with Sir Alex Ferguson not convinced his fragile body was even worth risking a pay-as-you-play contract on.

Two more familiar faces, Wes Brown and John O'Shea, have departed for Sunderland, allowing space for youngsters such as Paul Pogba to emerge from last season's victorious FA Youth Cup-winning squad, and give new arrivals Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David De Gea room to breathe.

Ferdinand knows the scrutiny will be immense as Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and especially Manchester City look to shake his team-mates from top spot.

And he would not have it any other way.

"The pressure is not overwhelming," said the 32-year-old.

"It is part of being a Manchester United player.

"You have to deal with all that stuff. It represents the difference between adapting to life at United and not because it is never going to change."

It has been suggested Ferguson's squad is now weakened.

From having so much influence from those who have passed their 30th birthday, Ferguson is now able to rattle off a dozen names of those who are no older than 22, including De Gea and Jones.

Yet when he looks around the United dressing room, any assessment of them as a frail bunch is greeted with scorn by Ferdinand.

"I just don't agree," said Ferdinand.

"We have other players who can step into those holes.

"You have people like myself, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji-sung, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Wayne Rooney. I could go on.

"There is a group of players who have been here for five or six years and consistently been involved in top games.

"That brings a lot of experience and nous about what it takes to win the league."

What Ferdinand does accept is that some players are easier to replace than others.

Van der Sar for instance was a very good goalkeeper. De Gea might also prove to be a very good goalkeeper. If not, United will try and find another.

Scholes was something else. Scoring goals, creating them, retaining possession, launching long passes like a quarterback. Little wonder he is generally regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation, and why so many of his team-mates wanted him to carry on for another year.

"You can't replace players like that," said Ferdinand.

"I have always said it, Paul Scholes is my favourite player.

"He is one of the top two players I have ever played with. It is his decision to stop and you have to respect that.

"When Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy left for instance, we didn't get like-for-like replacements.

"We got different players who had a great impact."

It would help if Ferdinand was fit of course.

The last two-and-a-half seasons have not been great for the England defender, who has suffered major back and calf problems.

With a European Championships - possibly his last tilt at a major international prize - looming at the end of the season, Ferdinand has extra incentive to stay fit.

"You want to be playing in all the games," he said.

"Last season, I had no problems with my back, which was a good thing.

"I did pull my calf, which kept me out for a chunk of the season, but hopefully this season I won't have anything like that and I can continue and play a significant number of games."