The Portugal winger has emerged triumphant on the personal wagers in the past two seasons by easily eclipsing the 15 and 20 goal totals set by Ferguson and landing $1000 in the process.

However, sick of always finishing a loser, the wily Scot has decided to up the ante this time around.

And having presented Ronaldo with a massive 35 goals to aim for, the 22-year-old politely declined.

"I won't be having a bet with Ronaldo this season because he has refused my offer," laughed Ferguson.

"I told him that I would be asking for 35 goals from him this year, but he said no, so there will be no betting this season."

Four years after the departure of David Beckham, Ronaldo has inherited the mantle of fans' favourite in the Far East.

The former Sporting Lisbon star has been mobbed throughout United's two-week tour.

Merely the sight of his image being shown on giant TV screens at the grounds where Ferguson's team have been playing are enough to send female members of the crowd into a frenzy.

Having taken a dislike to the way Beckham reacted to similar adulation, it would be little surprise if Ferguson worried about how Ronaldo will handle it.

Yet the United boss has no such concerns and intends handing him a fourth successive appearance when his side conclude their trip against Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals tomorrow.

"Like Wayne Rooney, Cristiano is a young man who wants to play all the time," he said.

"They are quite happy to play every day and it is very difficult to stop that kind of enthusiasm, so they will both definitely be involved at some point."

One player sure of his starting spot is China international Dong Fangzhou, whose pleas to play in his home country have been heeded by Ferguson even though the 22-year-old has been involved in the AFC Asian Cup.

Now at United full time after spending three years on loan at feeder club Royal Antwerp, Dong will now get the chance to prove he is more than a useful shirt seller.

"Dong will play for 45 minutes tomorrow," confirmed Ferguson.

"He only joined us on Sunday and it is important to spread the load across the entire squad.

"It is unfortunate that he has not been able to spend as much time with the first-team squad as we would have liked over the past few months.

"But he won't be away as much this season and being around the club will help his progress."

Once again, Owen Hargreaves will be a frustrated spectator as he continues to nurse a knee injury he aggravated at the start of United's pre-season training programme.

As long as a week ago, Ferguson expressed doubt as to whether the 26-year-old England international would feature on tour and now the Scot has confirmed his £18million summer signing from Bayern Munich will definitely miss out.

"Hargreaves won't be playing at all on the tour," said Ferguson. "It's just tendinitis. It's becoming an irritant rather than a big problem.

"It's something we're going to have to do something about - not an operation, but we may have to give him an injection at some time."

While Hargreaves is still unsure exactly when he will be able to play, there was better news over Paul Scholes, who was forced to fly home for tests on a knee injury he picked up in last week's win over FC Seoul.

The former England star has now received a more precise diagnosis, with Ferguson confirming Scholes will be missing for three weeks, a timescale which rules him out of the Premier League champions' opening games against Reading and Portsmouth but should leave him free for the Manchester derby at Eastlands on August 19.