Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has played down Owen Hargreaves’ absence from the club’s pre-season tour of South Africa. Four other first team players were also missing.
Hargreaves has joined Cristiano Ronaldo on the treatment table, while Edwin van der Sar, Patrice Evra and Nani were given an extended holiday after their appearances at Euro 2008.
Speculation suggested that Hargreaves’ injury was worse than The Red Devils were making public, but Ferguson insists that the problem is a recurrence of last season’s tendonitis, and not linked to the his worries at Bayern Munich.
"It was apparent as soon as he came back to training. It is the same as last year. Some people get these things," Ferguson said.
"Maybe re-starting training on the firmish grounds brings it on or maybe it is just an inherent problem.
"We are trying to sort it out now with injections. That is what we did last November and it worked. Hopefully these work and by the time we come back from South Africa he should be okay.
"Owen is not written off for the start of the season at all. I am sure he will be okay."
One player who will definitely feature is long-term absentee and captain Gary Neville, who has struggled with injury over the last 16 months, and Ferguson has reiterated that the 33-year old will have the opportunity to win back his place in the side from Wes Brown.
"For Gary in particular this trip is very important. He came through his 45 minutes at Aberdeen on Saturday with no problem at all, which is fantastic news," he added.
"The great thing about Gary is that he has not missed a training session since the last time he came back in April.
"We could have played him at the end of the season but Wes was doing so well.
"His form was so good I didn't want to have doubts in my mind about picking him. Wes had played in every game, so we kept it like that.
"But now, a new season is about to start and Gary will get his chance."
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