Premier League News: Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand may be back ahead of time
Manchester United’s centre-back Rio Ferdinand may be back to full fitness ahead of time. It is expected that he may be back soon after the international break.
Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had earlier said that his defender would not be able to make it back in the team by the end of September. Ferguson had said that he does not want to bring back one of his key players ahead of time.
Rio Ferdinand got injured before the 2010 World Cup. In a training session with the national team ahead of the World Cup, while trying to tackle Emile Heskey, Ferdinand suffered a knee ligament injury. He had been named captain for England before the tournament in South Africa following the media bashing of John Terry, whose personal problems came to limelight. However, Ferdinand did not manage to lead his country even once following the injury.
Ferdinand said that he is confident of making it back soon; he has started training with the team and said that it’s only a matter of few days now. Sir Alex said that Rio has always been a very strong character and has been able to fight off injures easily. He said that Rio would be tested on his fitness within the next week, and then the final decision would be made. Sir Alex said that till last week, he had not hit the training grounds and it was not clear how long off he is. He added that now, as he has made his way back to the training ground, things are looking positive. Ferguson said that Rio would be training with the reserves and would be observed closely by the club’s medical team. The manager said that on the weekend he may even join the team before practice for the match (he won’t feature in the match, of course).
Sir Alex said the likely match where he may be tested is the Manchester Senior Cup tie against Oldham Athletic. Ferdinand would line up for the United reserves for the match. Ferguson said that he has a number of players in the squad who will not be going on International duty, so he may plan to have an indoor friendly between his reserves and the rest of the squad.
Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United on one of the most talked about transfers back in 2003. He left Leeds to come to Old Trafford, and at the time, became the most expensive defender in Europe. He did take some time settling in, and ever since the arrival of Nemanja Vidic, he has formed one of the most dependable defensive partnerships with him. The two have been the cornerstones of United’s success, especially in the 3 seasons when United won back-to-back titles. He was tipped to be the next captain of United, but back in 2006, there was conflict between Rio and the team management on terms of a new contract and he threatened to leave. Since then, Ferguson has pushed his name down the order as far as being the captain is concerned.
Manchester United will play West Ham United this weekend; it has not been the best start to the 2010-11 season for them. Losing 2 points at Fulham has really frustrated the manager, who said that his team probably did not even deserve 2 points looking at the way they played. He added that when a team throws away a golden chance to seal the match like Nani did, they do not deserve all 3 points.
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