Van Nistelrooy rested

Ruud van Nistelrooy is set to sit out Manchester United’s opening game in the prestigious Amsterdam pre-season tournament with a shin injury.

The Dutch striker is almost certain to miss the clash with fellow countrymen Ajax as United are refusing to take any chances with last season’s top scorer ahead of another busy campaign.

Van Nistelrooy sat out the midweek win over Valerengen but is expected to recover in time to face Parma at the Amsterdam ArenA on Sunday.

In the meantime, Diego Forlan is likely to be given another chance to impress.

After struggling to make his mark at the end of last season, the £7m (€11.2m) Uruguayan has shown signs of promise in the build-up to the new campaign.

Though he has failed to find the target in a competitive outing for the deposed Premiership champions, Forlan received a major confidence boost when he netted for his country in this summer’s World Cup and has looked United’s most potent attacking threat during the Old Trafford club’s pre-season programme.

His performance against Valerengen drew warm praise from Ferguson and with the Scot still toying with his attacking options, could be in line for a big first-team breakthrough.

Barcelona are the other side involved in this weekend’s four-team spectacular although the Catalan giants will not face United at any stage.

On Monday, Ferguson and his team will return to Scandivania to take on Danish side Aarhus before completing their pre-season programme with an Old Trafford encounter with crack Argentinian outfit Boca Juniors with the proceeds going to the UNICEF charity.

Then it will be onto Champions League qualifying action, where a first leg trip to Hungary could be on the cards following Zalaegerszegi’s narrow 1-0 victory over NK Zagreb last night.