Knee Injury Will Keep Rio Ferdinand Out Until September

The new timetable was announced by manager Alex Ferguson, speaking to the club’s website, where he also speculated forward Michael Owen will not be ready to start the season:

“Michael Owen is doing some terrific work, but is a bit behind Gary [Neville] and Antonio [Valencia] and I don’t think he’ll be ready for the start of the season. Rio is probably around six weeks away from playing.”