Boss confirms Cleverley blow

Sir Alex Ferguson says Tom Cleverley will be out of action until Christmas after scans proved the ankle injury sustained against Everton in October is worse than first thought.

The boss also confirmed Danny Welbeck’s exclusion from United’s travelling squad to face Swansea in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday, after the striker suffered a muscle strain whilst on international duty with England.
Ashley Young is fit to face the Swans at the Liberty Stadium, however, and Chris Smalling will hopefully return to first-team duties against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.
The manager told MUTV: “No-one’s injured from the internationals, the ones who’ve played anyway, which is good. Danny Welbeck, as you know, came back with an injury from an England training session and he won’t be available for Swansea.
“Chris Smalling is not far away but I don’t think he’ll be back tomorrow, I think he’ll be ready for Tuesday. Michael Owen and Tom Cleverley are pretty long-term. I think Christmas time for both of them, which is unfortunate for us.
“It’s worse than we thought. When he (Cleverley) came off against Everton he reported that it was just a bit of tightness, a bit of pain, but we’ve done further scans and he’s had a recurrence of the injury, so we’re going to have to give him a break until Christmas time, I think.
“Ashley Young is fit, he’s trained for the last seven or eight days and is available for tomorrow.”