Rio still six weeks away from fitness

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that defender Rio Ferdinand is still six weeks away from fitness.

Ferdinand suffered a knee ligament injury while in pre-World Cup training with England on June 4, but in early July it was suggested by United that he might be fit for the opening Premier League game against Newcastle on August 16.

However, Red Devils boss Ferguson now estimates that it will take him longer than that to recover.

The Scot told his club's official website manutd.com: "Rio is probably around six weeks away from playing."

That diagnosis would also make him a major doubt for England's first two Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland on September 3 and 7 respectively.

Ferguson revealed that Gary Neville had returned to full training after a calf injury, as has Antonio Valencia.

Michael Owen (hamstring) has yet to resume training while Anderson is expected back in late September and Owen Hargreaves has remained in the United States to continue treatment after a recurrence of a tendinitis problem.

Given Ferdinand's on-going fitness problems, Nemanja Vidic's decision to commit himself to United has delighted Ferguson

The manager revealed that the Serbian defender's contract extension runs to four years.

Ferguson said: "In the modern day game it is not easy renewing players contracts when they do well, particularly those from other countries.

"Over the last year or so there has been speculation about Nemanja time and time again, sometimes by the press, sometimes fuelled by other sources.

"But we never had a strong feeling he really wanted to leave. There is always concern if they do well they want better contracts.

"At the end of the day we have managed to achieve the task of getting him to agree a four-year contract.

"We are delighted, he is fantastic centre-half, a great competitor with a marvellous attitude to winning games. It strengthens our hand."