No quick return for Rooney

Rooney remained in hospital on Saturday night as medical staff assessed the extent of the injury he sustained when Hugo Rodallega landed on him in stoppage time.

Immediately after the game, Sir Alex Ferguson said it was "a very bad one" which would rule his forward out for four weeks.

This has been emphasised by the reaction of surgeons who were "surprised" at the depth of the cut.

Rooney returned home on Sunday after a comfortable night.

However, his chances of figuring in next weekend's Premier League encounter with Southampton appear non-existent and it seems inevitable he will also miss England's opening World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine next month.

Roy Hodgson is due to name his squad on Thursday, at which point it will be surely too early for any risk to be taken with Rooney's recovery.

The one reason for optimism is that when Nani needed stitches in a nasty wound, admittedly below the knee, inflicted by Jamie Carragher at Liverpool in March 2011, Ferguson immediately put the recovery timescale at three weeks, yet the Portugal winger was back in action nine days later.

With the start of another Champions League campaign and a trip to Liverpool looming straight after the international break, any reduction in that four-week timescale would be a bonus for Ferguson.

Rodallega has been cleared of any blame for the incident, which happened as Rooney attempted to close down a free-kick that had just rebounded back to the Colombian.

The sheer force of Rodallega landing on Rooney caused the damage and it appeared the Fulham man was wearing studs, rather than the blades some have argued cause greater injury.

Rooney's condition helped deflect attention away from the fact he did not feature in the United starting line-up yesterday, although Ferguson was at pains to stress there are "no problems" with the forward.

Instead of being paired with new signing Robin van Persie, Rooney was left on the bench as Ferguson kept faith with Shinji Kagawa following that dire defeat at Everton on Tuesday (AEST).

Rooney was amongst those to perform well below expectations at Goodison Park and many fans yesterday immediately hailed Ferguson's decision as the right one.

However, it must have been a blow to the striker's pride if nothing else.

And with the transfer window due to close on Friday, there is bound to be some talk of Rooney's future, if only outside the club.

Certainly Ferguson was quick to quell such talk even as Rooney was heading to hospital.

"He and Robin van Persie are needing games," said the Scot.

"To start the two of them would have been too much. Wayne understood that.

"There is no problem. He played his part when he came on."

Rooney did have just three pre-season outings, although including the Everton game, did have five hours' action under his belt prior to kick-off, significantly more than Van Persie, who admits he is still a couple of weeks away from full fitness.

However, whilst Kagawa was excellent against Fulham, what must also be factored into Ferguson's use of the summer arrival from Borussia Dortmund is that his international break involves a draining return home and World Cup qualifiers against United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Ferguson noted with Park Ji-Sung that his performance levels tended to dip in such circumstances, so the threat to Rooney's status as United's number one man need not be long lasting.

And Van Persie, whilst keen to spread the praise across his team-mates, expects Rooney to be his main strike partner this season.

"Wayne is a world-class player," said the Dutchman.

"He can give you everything; assists, goals. He is quick, technical. He loves to link up as well.

"I am looking forward to that combination of course.

"I am a football fan. I like to enjoy my work. With Wayne and all the others I think I can do that."