He added: “If Frank Lampard went from Chelsea they would get by. If Ronaldo went from United it might make the difference between winning the championship or not.”

However, Hansen also insists Lampard would be irreplaceable if he were to leave Chelsea for Inter Milan.

“If he does go the money is irrelevant because Chelsea will be looking at the wider picture of how they are going to be successful,” he said. “They have a much better chance of being successful with Lampard in there.

“He’s a great player, playing all the time and he’s English so he has that heart and team spirit that can set teams and players apart.

“How do you replace him and with whom? They would be struggling because they wouldn’t be able to get Gerrard.”

Hansen believes Sir Alex Ferguson was testing Luiz Felipe Scolari’s reaction with his comments regarding the age of the new Chelsea manager’s squad.

He added: “You’ll never win anything with kids, now you’ll never win anything with the older generation, according to Sir Alex. It’s just mind games, he’s the master of mind games and he always has been.

“He’s probably just testing Scolari out. Chelsea will be his biggest rivals, there’s no doubt about that, and he’s just trying to get set for the start of the season.”