Hargreaves To Miss Start Of New Season

Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves will miss the start of the season after an injury setback.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson says the 29-year-old will not join the club on pre-season tour and has gone to America to see a specialist instead.

"He will not be ready for the start of the season," Ferguson told MUTV. "I do not know when he will be back."

Hargreaves was out for 18 months with knee problems but looked to have returned to the game in May.

The former Bayern Munich player, who joined Manchester United in 2007 in a £17m deal, played several reserve matches towards the end of last season.

He had been suffering from tendinitis and had undergone knee surgery in America in 2008 in a bid to solve the long-term problem.

But he returned to reserve team action in 2010 and came on as a late substitute in United's 1-0 win over Sunderland in the penultimate game of the season on 2 May.

The Canadian-born Englishman came on for three minutes at the end of that match but did not feature in the final game, a 4-0 win over Stoke on 9 May.