United trio in doubt for tour

05 July 2013 20:46

Ashley Young, Chris Smalling and Nani are all doubts for Manchester United's pre-season tour.

The trio missed the end of the season with ankle, foot and nose problems respectively. They are still to begin training and will be assessed at the start of next week before it is decided whether they will travel to Thailand on Wednesday for the start of United's five-match summer programme.

"We have a few injury doubts and people coming back from injury," said new manager David Moyes. "They still may go but will be assessed at the start of next week."

Moyes also confirmed new-boy Wilfried Zaha will report for the first time on Monday after being given extended leave following the European Under-21 Championship. However, Shinji Kagawa will not link up until United reach Japan on July 21, whilst Javier Hernandez will miss out completely.

Moyes has been linked with a succession of potential signings, although he admitted time is running out to actually make any prior to departure. And other than state the obvious, the Scot opted against fuelling any rumours for Cristiano Ronaldo in particular.

"I would never speak about players at other football clubs because I think it's wrong and not my style," he said. "But this club is always interested in the best players."

Moyes did confirm he intends to speak with Paul Scholes about a possible coaching role. When it was announced on Thursday fellow 'Class of 92' members Ryan Giggs and Phil Neville were joining Moyes' backroom team, Scholes was nowhere to be seen. However, Moyes is hopeful that situation will not prove to be a permanent one.

"When I spoke to Paul on the phone he was absolutely fantastic," said Moyes. "He wanted to give me help and some direction on some things. He wants to give his family some time but there will be a place for him and we will look to bring him back in when he is ready."

The appointment of Giggs appears to be a masterstroke, bringing club knowledge previously missing from Moyes' coaching team once Rene Meulensteen had decided he would follow Mike Phelan and Eric Steele out of Old Trafford.

"I wanted to make sure I had connections through what had happened here and the obvious person was Ryan," said Moyes. "I've only worked with him for two days but he's an incredible footballer and sometimes until you get really close, you don't realise that."

Source: PA