Rooney not fit to face Reds

Wayne Rooney will not play any part in Manchester United’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday.

Rooney has been sidelined since suffering a serious gash to his thigh in the thrilling 4-3 win over Fulham last month, an injury that was expected to keep him out of action for up to two months.

It was reported earlier this week that Rooney had returned to training earlier than expected and was in line to make a surprise appearance against Liverpool, but Sir Alex Ferguson insists that is not the case.

Although the striker is back training, Ferguson admits Sunday’s match will come too soon for him.

“We have everyone available who was available last Wednesday,” Ferguson said.

“I know there were reports in the paper about Rooney being possible, but that is not the case. He’s not far away, I think he may be fine for next week.

“He’s doing a lot of great training and has been working hard. It’s just a matter of getting him into the full football training side of things, which he has done part of.”

Ashley Young has also been ruled out of the match with Ferguson expecting the winger to be unavailable for at least another fortnight.

“Ashley Young has got a bruised cartilage – I think it’s going to take two or three weeks more. We’re just taking our time with that one. You can easily play with it and train but we’re not going down that road, we want to make sure he’s okay,” Ferguson added at the pre-match press conference.

“We get a lot of experiences these days of these injuries reoccurring when they come back too quickly and we don’t want that with the players – we want to give them a full recovery. He should be okay with two or three weeks’ time.”