Scholes touch and go for Sunday

After three months on the sidelines with a knee injury, Paul Scholes has an outside chance of playing a part in Sunday’s FA Cup clash with Tottenham.

The veteran midfield schemer has been training for the last month to build his fitness, and resumed competitive training with the rest of the first team squad on Friday.

“His rehabilitation went fantastically well, he’s been training fantastic the last four weeks on a physical and endurance side,” Sir Alex Ferguson told his weekly press conference.

“That’s all perfectly ok. It’s just a decision on how he comes through today’s training session. I don’t think he’ll be involved on Sunday, but he is a consideration simply because he’s such a great player.

“He could be on the bench, it really depends on how he comes through today. Other than that, I’m sure he’ll be involved against Portsmouth.”

If the decision were down to Scholes himself, there’s no doubt he would be lining up against Juande Ramos’ side, according to the United manager.

“He’s champing at the bit, as you would expect with him,” said Sir Alex. “All week he’s been begging the coaches for a game. But we’ve adhered to the guidance from our specialists and the 24th (of January) was his deadline on the medical side.”

While Scholes is itching to play some part against Spurs, Sunday’s match comes too soon for Louis Saha and Gary Neville. Striker Saha should be ready for action in time for Manchester City’s visit early next month, while club captain Neville begins training again this Saturday.

With Scholes' return imminent, however, Sir Alex is in no doubt that his squad will benefit immensely from having the midfielder back in action.

"He’s a great player," he said. "At this time of the season he’s going to bring his experience, because we’re going into the tricky part of the season, the important part. We’ve got 15 league games left, hopefully we’ve got a few European ties and FA Cup ties left. Him coming back fresh at this time of the season is brilliant for us.

"It happened when he was out with the eye injury. He came back and the season he had last season was fantastic after it. So we’re very buoyed by Paul coming back, it’s almost like a new signing at a very important time with the Champions League and FA Cup starting."