Hargreaves Surprises Sir Alex

Owen Hargreaves is back in training and close to giving Sir Alex Ferguson a selection problem.

The boss said in an MUTV exclusive interview: "Owen has come back training, he trained yesterday with the first team. He looked very good. I was surprised actually how good he was looking. It's an extra string to our bow.

"After being out for so long, we'll have to monitor him and see how he progresses in the next few weeks. But it's good to see him back. Because he's been out for so long you have to see whether there's going to be a relapse. That's the first thing on our mind. But having watched him in training, if he continues that way he's going to give me a selection problem."

Michael Carrick is also back on the training field. "Michael started training last week," says Sir Alex. "He had an injection on his Achilles to settle it down. It was nothing serious, just one of those niggling little problems you can get, particularly at the start of the season when grounds are firm. He's fine, he's started training."