Owen stays behind

Owen Hargreaves did not travel to South Africa with the rest of the squad as he is again suffering from the tendinitis problem that plagued the start of his Reds career.

Hargreaves was sporadically involved at the start of the 2007/08 campaign, and the knee complaint flared up again when the 27-year-old reported back for pre-season training.

"Owen has a tendonitis problem in his knee again – the same as he had at beginning of last season,” said Sir Alex. "He’s had a series of injections on it with the specialist and he's training at the moment, it’s just the matches he's not involved in just yet.

“Some people are more susceptible [to this kind of injury]. Norman Whiteside used to have trouble with his knees in pre-season. Owen has started training again after a few weeks off, the ground is firm at the moment and that maybe brought it on.”

It’s frustrating for Owen and United, but Sir Alex doesn’t expect the problem to last into the start of the season. “We’re trying to correct it with injections," he added. "We did it last November and it worked, so hopefully it will again. By the time we return from South Africa he should be okay. I’m sure he’ll be fit for the start of the season.”