Back in the frame: United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar
trained in Doha
Edwin van der Sar could make his Manchester United
comeback against Burnley on
Saturday. The veteran Dutchman has not played for the Red
Devils since mid-November when he injured a knee against
Everton. Since
then, his wife Annemarie suffered a stroke just before
Christmas.
However, she has now recovered and, after spending this week in
Qatar with his team-mates during the warm weather training camp,
the 39-year-old is in contention to face Burnley at Old
Trafford.
'Edwin has come back to training and has done very well,' said
manager Sir Alex Ferguson. 'He has been out for a few weeks
and it is great to see him back. He will give us so much experience
when he eventually does come back, which is important to us.'
Ferguson will have a chat with Van der Sar before deciding on
his line-up for tomorrow's game. However, it seems
inevitable given United's struggles at the back recently that the
former Holland skipper will be recalled in favour of Tomasz
Kuszczak.
'It depends how Edwin feels but he has been training very well,'
said the Red Devils chief. Ferguson also confirmed long-term
absentees Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves continued to make
progress in Qatar last week. 'They both took part in some work
and Rio in particular is not too far away now,' he
said.
Meanwhile, record signing Dimitar Berbatov is resisting having
an exploratory operation on a lingering knee problem, with Ferguson
hoping surgery can be delayed until the end of the
season.
'Dimitar doesn't want an operation,' said
Ferguson. 'Sometimes he feels the injury, other times he
doesn't. It might have been the warmer climes but he didn't feel it
at all in Qatar last week. 'We are just keeping an eye on it at
present.'
