Sir Alex Ferguson has accepted for the first time that criticism of Juan Sebastian Veron's form may not be unjust, although the Manchester United manager claims he does not regard the £28.1m he spent on the midfielder as money badly spent.

Ferguson, preparing for tonight's tie against Bayer Leverkusen, admits that the Argentinian had struggled to acclimatise to life in England. "European games have been meat and drink for him, but he has found it hard in the Premier League," he said.

Radio phone-ins have been inundated with callers questioning Veron's lethargic attitude in Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Manchester City and Stuart Pearson, a former United striker, has accused him of not being dedicated. "You can't go into a derby game like that," he said. "A couple of his challenges were just embarrassing."

Privately Ferguson might agree, but he is reluctant to criticise players too much. "Seba is like Eric Cantona; he will risk a pass to win a game," he said. "Sometimes it makes him look careless, but he's not lackadaisical. He always wants the ball and he's got great stamina. The money we paid is a lot but I ask myself whether he is contributing, and I think he is."

Veron is likely to be one of several rested tonight as Ferguson fields a much-weakened side, as will be the case with Bayer. Both teams have qualified for the second phase and United will win the group unless they lose by two goals.

"We are maybe the fairest team in Europe," was the comment from Bayer's coach Klaus Toppmöller in response to Ferguson's September accusations of Leverkusen gamesmanship in the first game. "I have seen a lot more diving in the games involving Liverpool and Manchester United."

Manchester United (possible 4-4-2): Ricardo; P Neville, O'Shea, Blanc, Silvestre; Chadwick, Beckham, Scholes, Fortune; Forlan, Solskjaer.

Bayer Leverkusen (possible 4-4-2): Butt; Sebescen, Ramelow, Kleine, Zivkovic; Bierofka, Balitsch, Simak, Babic; Franca, Brdaric.

Referee: V Hrinak (Slovakia).