Man United boss Ferguson ready to welcome back ‘special’ Cleverley

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Tom Cleverley’s imminent return from injury can give Manchester United a timely boost in the Premier League title race.

The 22-year-old has been out injured since October, with his last appearance coming during United’s 1-0 victory at Goodison Park, but the England U-21 international is now set to return in a fortnight.

“Cleverley is doing a lot of running,” Ferguson told United’s website. “He’s nowhere near the first-team at the moment but he’s doing a lot of running. He’ll be a terrific boost. It will be great to get the boy back because I think he’s special.”

United are currently without 11 players from their first-team squad, including captain Nemanja Vidic, who has knee injury, while former Aston Villa winger Ashley Young is recovering from an ankle problem.

“I expect [Ashley] to start training in the middle of the week, so he’s on his way back,” added Ferguson.

“Cleverley is two weeks behind that. Anderson will be ready this week, too. He’ll start training with us on Monday or Tuesday and then it gives me a collection of midfield players that should cope with anything that happens in the run-in.”

Meanwhile, the 70-year-old United manager hailed Michael Carrick’s contribution this season in the absence of Paul Scholes, who recently came out of retirement.

“Michael Carrick’s form has been unbelievable – he’s been playing fantastic – and we’ll also have Giggs, Scholes, Cleverley and Anderson, so that’s a great group of midfield players that will definitely help us.”