Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney sidelined for 3 weeks with knee injury

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will be sidelined for between two and three weeks after sustaining knee ligament damage in training.

The England forward was missing from the line up for the Red Devils' 4-3 victory over Newcastle today.

After his poor performance against Swansea on Sunday, Ferguson would have loved the hitman to come out swinging against Newcastle, but could not select him due to injury.


'After his performance on Sunday I think he would have been brilliant today. You don't have two performances like he did on Sunday,' said Ferguson. 'Unfortunately we couldn't risk him.'

He continued: 'It was a volley towards the end of training. He did a ligament at the back of his knee and could be out for two to three weeks.'

Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez stepped up to the mark in Rooney's absence, both scoring as United managed to grab three points from a topsy-turvy game.

Danny Welbeck also missed the game after reporting an illness last night.

Rooney will miss Premier League matches against West Brom and Wigan, in addition to the FA Cup third round tie at West Ham on January 5. He also faces a race against time to face Liverpool at Old Trafford on January 13.