Injured Manchester United midfielder Anderson out until February

Nov 25, 2011, 10:37 GMT

London - Manchester United's midfield problems took another turn for the worse on Friday after Anderson was ruled out until February with a knee injury.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is already without Tom Cleverley and the loss of Brazilian Anderson is another blow to his options going into a busy December for the Premier League champions.

'It's not good news about Anderson, we don't think he'll be fit until February,' Ferguson told a press conference on Friday.

'He's got this knee injury and we've sent him back to Portugal to see the specialist who operated on his knee last time. That's a bit of a blow, we didn't expect that one. So that's the two midfield players who are going to be missing for a spell now.

'(But) we're not as bad as people think we are in midfield. We have Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher, and if we get Tom Cleverley back for Christmas that'll be a bonus. We'll be OK, we have a strong squad.'

But Ferguson said he would not be panicked into making any rash buys in the January transfer window.

'It's dead easy to say you'll go out and buy players,' he said. 'But it's not easy to buy players who are good enough for Manchester United, especially in January.'

United are second in the league, five points behind crosstown rivals Manchester City. They host fourth-placed Newcastle United on Saturday.

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