Manchester United defender John O'Shea is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a blood clot problem.
United have had significant problems in defence this season, with Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, Wes Brown, Rafael Da Silva, Fabio Da Silva and Gary Neville all facing significant spells out injured, and O'Shea has not featured since Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off defeat to France in mid-November.
It had initially been thought that O'Shea would make a swift return from the injury, but complications mean he is now unlikely to play again in the current campaign. He's got a terrible injury at the moment," Sir Alex Ferguson said. "It's one of those sorts of injuries that are unusual. It's like a dead leg except a dead leg is usually only three or four days.
"The problem is that the blood clot became all knotted and when it gets knotted you get calcification so therefore it's a long process to clear that up and he'll probably miss the season now. It's a bad blow for the boy and for the team because he can play anywhere. When you look at all the problems I've had with the back four this season, he could have played every single one."
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