United suffer Rooney virus blow
Wayne Rooney due to miss start of season with Nigerian virus
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Tuesday, 05, Aug 2008 10:31
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will miss the start of the Premier League season due to a virus he has picked up during pre-season.
Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed today that the England forward is suffering from a "pretty bad" illness, which he picked up while the squad were in Nigeria for a friendly with Portsmouth last month.
Ferguson admitted Rooney has not trained for more than ten days because of the problem and this was likely to seriously affect his fitness levels to the extent that he will be unable to play in the season opener against Newcastle United or in the Community Shield this Sunday against Pompey.
"Well, the season starts in 12 days time and he hasn't trained since July 26th so he will find it hard to come back for that," Ferguson confirmed to a press conference today.
"It's a serious problem he's picked up in Nigeria. It's not malaria, let's get that straight, but it's still a pretty bad virus."
Without Rooney, United are now seriously short on firepower - with Cristiano Ronaldo already out until October as he recovers from ankle surgery and Louis Saha rumoured to be on the verge of leaving the club.
Ferguson has been linked with a number of strikers in recent days - namely Tottenham Hotspur's Dimitar Berbatov and Blackburn Rovers' Roque Santa Cruz - and it looks likely negotiations will be stepped up in a bid to bolster the Old Trafford strikeforce within the next ten days.