Rio Ferdinand, Oliveira Anderson and Michael Carrick are all set to miss the start of the season. Rio and Anderson are still recovering from respective leg injuries, with Carrick sustaining an ankle injury in Dublin on Wednesday. Meanwhile Owen Hargreaves is still recuperating in America...

Sir Alex today confirmed that Carrick twisted his ankle mid-week, in United's 7-1 victory over an Airtricity League XI in Ireland. The 29-year-old limped-off after just 30 minutes in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. 

"Michael hurt his ankle on Wednesday," said the boss. "It is nothing serious but he will be out for a couple of weeks, so he will miss the start of the season."

Ferdinand injured his knee ahead of the England's dismal World Cup campaign. With Anderson recovering from knee surgery, after a scare when he was involved in a serious car crash last Saturday. 

"Rio is still well behind. It'll be a few weeks before he is back amongst us. Anderson is making good progress and he will be training in two weeks."