Rio Ferdinand will reportedly be out for six weeks after deciding to 'sort out' his back problem.
The Manchester United defender has missed the last three games with a calf complaint, but has been in and out of the Old Trafford treatment room with various problems that can be traced to a back injury suffered at the end of last year.
Ferdinand has struggled to string more than two games together since then, and concerns have been growing about his fitness and the knock-on effect that it is having on his form.
Wes Brown said of his defensive colleague: "Rio has been injured for a very long time and he's been getting a lot of pain in his back for a long time.
"I'm not sure how many months it's been going on, but he's come to the stage where he's sorting it out now.
"When he comes back I'm sure he'll be a lot stronger. If you are not fully fit and you try and play it's very hard - believe me, I know - especially because of how fast the Premier League is now. And if you carry on playing with that same injury week in, week out, it does make things even harder.
"That's what happens and Rio's decided to sort it out."
According to The Sun, that 'sorting out' means missing six weeks, and The Times suggests Ferdinand may have to undergo surgery to solve the problem.
This means he will be out of United's crucial clash with Chelsea on Sunday, and five other Premier League games as well as United's final two Champions League group games and their Carling Cup quarter-final against Spurs.
It will also mean Fabio Capello will be without Ferdinand for England's friendly against Brazil later this month.
Your Comments
doncobaino
"as long as we arent relying on JUST evans and brown, if vidic is there we should be ok, with fletcher and the returing hargreaves to provide a bit more cover in midfield"
GFZs_Boots
"One of the nicest things about Joe Cole returning from his injury was to hear him talk about how much he loved football and playing the game. Not like Rio who seems to think the whole world would have adored him if he was good at football or not. I once saw him interviewed by Gary Lineker and being asked what he'd like to do after football. Without a hint of irony and dressed head to toe in denim (jacket, shirt and jeans) he said: "Well, I quite like fashion." Well good luck with that Rio. Either get your head back in the game or f**k off and do something else that you think you are good at. Either way it is only going to be a couple of years before you career is over. End it in style with a decent World Cup or end it with your name on a straight to bargain bin DVD..."
weepyking
"To all the Utd fans on here having a go at him for his of the field interests, catch a grip. ALL footballers have something else outside of football. Ronaldo had his shops and fashion label, Owen has his race horses, Beckham had everything, Fowler had his property empire, thats just a few. Rio does this in his own time. The only involvement he had in the film was to stump up half the cash, then he did nothing else, read his interviews. He said he runs the magazine when he is travelling with the team and on days off (they do get days of you know) Would you rather footballers just finished training at 1, then went home and played XBox?
He has an injury, all players get them and he has been lucky throughout his career in not getting them. Calm down and stop making a fuss over nothing."
mgaffney
"Its alright as long as Vidic is back soon. Hopefully its the solution to his problems he's been having lately. If we get Rio back to near his best then we will be laughing. "
reddevil99
"I think it will be best for united if Rio finally sorts out his back injury,I hope he comes back as strong as he has been since he joined United, I am sure this time will give him to be in right frame of mind while representing United at the highest level, all the best Rio !!!!!"
magicrhodes
"@mike_christie & @PatrickHughson It is clear that Fergie has realised that he has been wrong in the club v country row and feels sorry for the way he treated Ryan Giggs's international career. By doing this he has also helped Wes Brown by ensuring he should get some international games and has booked his ticket to Dubai. SAF = Englands No1 fan and support of international careers... ;-)"
arvey1
"Enough of the Big-time Charlie antics Rio....Do all that film making s*it when u have retired and man utd stop paying your wages. Get yourself sorted out, trust me Fergie defending u and talking u up is his way of preserving your value up son in the market, in the likely event of u being off-loaded in his mind!..So if it comes to selling u, u won't look like an asset he clearly doesn't want. Business mind kicks in!....IF i were you, i would stuff that glitz bol*ocks and get your football career back on track!"
phewson
"Get the injury sorted just in time for the World Cup!"
PatrickHughson
"What I can't understand is, if this has been troubling him since last year, why didn't he have surgery in the summer to sort it out?"
mike_christie
"Surely this should have been 'sorted out' over the summer if it had already been going on for months."
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