Rio To Miss First Month

Rio Ferdinand is likely to miss the opening month of the 2010/11 campaign after Sir Alex Ferguson admitted the defender was "nowhere near fitness."

The United stalwart has been sidelined since early June, when he suffered a knee ligament injury while preparing for the World Cup with England. The latest update on his condition suggests he will be absent from the Reds' league games against Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham, Everton and possibly Liverpool which falls on 19 September.

Sir Alex said this weekend, "He is nowhere near fitness. He’s doing little bits of jogging and things like that. He’s at least a month away.

"It was a knee ligament injury. There was no detachment or rupture of the ligament which was a blessing. But it was a bad one and it’s going to take time."

The boss acknowledged that Rio has had "a bad 12 months" with injuries but said that "he is okay mentally."

"You don’t want to see players getting a succession of injuries when they are in their thirties," he added.

"Gary Neville had an incredible number of muscular injuries but has kept on coming back. Rio will take encouragement from the way Gary has handled his problems.

"Hopefully this lay off will help Rio's other injury problems settle down."

Sir Alex was quoted in the Sunday Express.