Blow for United as Park out for month

MANCHESTER UNITED midfielder Park Ji-sung has been ruled out for a month after suffering a hamstring injury in training.

Park has only recently returned to United after spending a month away with South Korea at the Asian Cupafter which he announced his international retirement.

The 29-year-old had been a key player for the Premier League leaders prior to his departure for the Asian Cup and would have been in contention for Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Crawley Town. However, Park is now likely to miss several important games for the Red Devils after Alex Ferguson confirmed the extent of the injury.

“We got a blow on Saturday morning with the news that Ji-sung Park did his hamstring on Friday afternoon in training,” the United boss revealed yesterday.

“It was very unfortunate because it was his last kick of the ball in training as well.

“We were really looking forward to having him back after being away for a month at the Asian Cup.

“He’ll be out for up to a month, which is a blow to us.”

Ferguson has received one boost, however, with Antonio Valencia training with the reserves having been sidelined since September with a badly broken ankle.

Valencia was initially feared to be out for the rest of the season, but the winger could be back in first-team contention for United next month.

Ferguson added: “The good news is that Valencia started training with the reserves on Saturday, so he’s on his way back and that will be a real boost to have him available for the run-in.”