Rio Ferdinand has been declared fit to return to the Manchester United first-team (11/5 – Premiership Outright) after he came through 45 minutes of the reserve-team’s 2-1 win against Oldham in the Manchester Senior Cup tie at Stalybridge on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old central defender has not played since picking up a serious knee ligament injury following a collision with Emile Heskey ahead of England’s World Cup opener against the United States in South Africa in early June.
However, despite Sir Alex Ferguson initially ruling Ferdinand out until the end of September, his excellent progress saw him pitched in to face the Latics for a second string run-out.
United reserve-team boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was very pleased with Ferdinand’s display and sees no reason why he cannot come into contention to face Everton in the Premier League on September 11.
“Rio is always the same player,” said Solskjaer. “It is a while since he has played but he was still calm.
“He has get through an important 45 minutes, straight after two very hard training sessions yesterday and the day before so we are delighted with him.”
Solskjaer also played down any fears of a setback when Ferdinand went off at half time, claiming it was always planned he would not play the full match after near three months out of action.
“Today was about distances and getting tighter to the ball. Now he is available for selection again,” he added.
Ferguson will be overjoyed to have Ferdinand back into contention for selection as United get their Champions League campaign (United 8/1 – Outright) underway against Glasgow Rangers on September 14.
England boss Fabio Capello will no doubt also be keeping a close eye on the player’s developments given that he is already set to miss their opening two Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria (England 3/10, Bulgaria 8/1, Draw 10/3 – 90 Minutes) and Switzerland this week.
However if Ferdinand works his way back to full fitness he will be an important part of the Italian’s plans to try and ensure the Three Lions qualify (England 1/12 – To Qualify) for the tournament in two years’ time.
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