FERGIE LOOKING FORWARD TO AFRICA

Last updated : 06 July 2006 By Ed

Bad news as it looks like Fergie is expecting Darren Fletcher to be with the club next season. Talking ahead of the trip to South Africa where United will play Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates he said.

"We are taking a good nucleus of the experienced players over including Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Kieran Richardson, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and some of our young players.

"In most cases [the players involved in the World Cup] have got a three week holiday. The ones who'll be reporting on 24 July after the knock-out stages are Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Gabriel Heinze, Edwin Van Der Sar. Ji-Sung Park will be reporting back on 18 July."

He also had some good news about Alan Smith.

"Alan is doing very well and we're very pleased with the progress, but when he was injured in February we said he wouldn't play for six or seven months so he won't be back until the end of August, or early September."