Having questioned whether Rio Ferdinand will be available for the remainder of the season Sir Alex has moved quickly to dispel rumours that the defender’s career is coming to an end.
The Times had reported that United would be looking for alternatives this summer after Ferdinand had suffered with injuries that had disrupted his last 3 seasons but Sir Alex believes that the defender has many more years at the top of the game saying,
“Rio has plenty of years ahead of him.
“He has had a few injuries over the last few years I am sure that are a concern for him.
“Calf injuries can be troublesome and we are not looking at this as a short-term situation for us. He has been out for a few weeks now anyway and has not started training yet.
“It looks to me as if we will be lucky to get him back for some point of the season.
“But he is still capable of coming back and playing at the top level again.”
Ferdinand hasn’t played since he pulled up prior to the game against Wolves on February 5th and whilst there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel for him, there is better news as Park Ji Sung and Jonny Evans are set to provide a timely boost to the first team against Bolton this weekend. Park hasn’t featured for United since boxing day due to international commitments and injury whilst Jonny Evans last played in the 2-1 defeat to Wolves and with the number of injuries we have picked up recently their returns couldn’t have come at a better time.
Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Amos, Smalling, Brown, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Gibson, Scholes, Carrick, Obertan, Park, Bebe, Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov, Hernandez, Owen, King.
Great to know Park is finally back
nani/valencia not in sqaud?
Good news about the other guys, but like I said in the last post about Rio, we need to be realistic in that it’s unlikely we can depend on him for the bulk of a season. Unless it’s been said otherwise, this current calf injury isn’t even a tear or anything like it; it’s just that his body is not recovering like it used to. There’s nothing I’d like more than having him healthy, but we’re skating on thin ice if we plan around optimism.
i reckon fergie will go:
VDS
Fabio | Smalling | Brown | Evra
Park | Scholes | Carrick | Giggs
Rooney | Hernandez
or
VDS
Brown | Smalling | Evans | Evra
Park | Scholes | Carrick | Giggs
Rooney | Hernandez
Thank god Park is finally getting back. We have had to wait for a long time for him to return and he was in the best form of his Man Utd career before he went to the Asia Cup.
Also good to see Evans back from injury. He hasn’t had a good season and has taken alot of stick, but he needs to stand up now and be counted. If he can get his form and his head right from this point it will be big for Man Utd.
Hopefully Anderson isn’t too far away because we need that boy back. He brings the energy, along with Park, to our midfield that we really need. I feel he has turned a small corner this season and he just needs games to improve.
As for Ferdinand it is very frustrating that we cannot cure his injury problems. I’m sure he will still be a Man Utd player for the next couple of years, but we have to start looking at Smalling. He is young and maybe has played more than we anticipated this season, but he has shown great promise. I hope he can develop his talking skills and become a leader at the back. That doesn’t just happen, you need confidence, but alongside Brown, Smalling would be more natural in that role.
Finally good luck to Hargreaves if he does make the bench for today game. I don’t see him being with us next season, but he might be able to go out on a high.