Lingard hopes for call

29/11/2011 14:40, Report by Adam Marshall

Jesse Lingard is hoping to be involved in the Carling Cup squad for the tie with Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.

The young winger has been in excellent form for Warren Joyce's Reserves and is keen to follow in the footsteps of pals Ezekiel Fryers, Larnell Cole, Ravel Morrison, Paul Pogba, Michael Keane and Marnick Vermijl by being named in the matchday party in the competition this term.

"Hopefully, I can be involved against Palace," he told ManUtd.com. "I've been training a lot with the first-team now and just hope I can keep training with them.

"I've enjoyed the training a lot and you shouldn't be surprised by it. You've just got to carry on playing your normal game. I've got to keep working hard, keep the manager thinking about me and, hopefully I'll be involved in the Palace game."

The 18-year-old was outstanding in the recent Reserves' victory over Everton and also performed well in the success at Bolton in his last outing. After recovering from an injury picked up against Bury earlier in the campaign, he is currently firing on all cylinders.

"I'd hurt my medial ligament and part of my ankle," he explained. "It was a five-week rehabilitation programme and I was on the bench for the next game after the injury. But I've come on nicely with it and am playing well now. I just had to keep my chin up, keeping playing and doing well now I'm over the injury."

source : Manutd

18/11/2011 12:30, Report by Mark Froggatt3

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 Wednesday. 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.”

Source ; Manutd