It’s been over a year on the sidelines for England International and Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves after undergoing surgery on both knees in an effort to cure the tendinitis issues he’d been dealing with in the United States under the care of Dr. Richard Steadman.

But after stepping up his training regimen and returning to United’s Carrington Training Complex, Sir Alex Ferguson is hopeful that the 28 year old could see action within the next four weeks.

Via Guardian

“I feel it will still take us four weeks to get him into the rhythm of training again and get to the point of match play,” Ferguson said. “Normally, when a player has been out for that length of time he is helped by the fact he is doing his rehabilitation with other players.

“Because he did it on his own in the USA, under the guidance of Dr Richard Steadman, it is not easy. But he has the determination and resilience to see it through. He is now back with us and hopefully the boy gets a break and continues his progress without any further mishaps.”

As this kind of operation is still quite rare, there must be some doubt over Hargreaves’s chances of making a full recovery, or getting back to the level that led to him winning 42 caps for England, the last of which came against the USA in May last year.

But Ferguson has taken comfort from the growing number of players that have come back from formerly career-threatening cruciate knee ligament surgery, the latest being Chelsea’s Joe Cole.

“We don’t see the fact he has been out a year as a handicap,” Ferguson said. “Other players have been out a similar length of time. When Joe Cole came back on Wednesday you forget he was missing for nine months. It is achievable, particularly when they are young.

“He is not kicking a ball yet. The physio who attended to him over there will stay here for a week for the changeover. He and our physios are discussing exactly at what stage he is at but he should be into football training quite soon.”