Ben Foster is tantalisingly close to playing for United’s reserves, a huge step on his road to recovery after eight months out following a serious knee injury.

Foster, who underwent cruciate knee ligament surgery in the summer, has been training hard for months now and is itching to get back into action.

"All is going well," he told MUTV. "I've been training for the last two or three months. I started full time training about six weeks ago.

"All been good so far, no niggles or pain, so I'm looking to play a reserves game pretty soon.”

The 24-year-old is yet to play for the first-team, despite being a United player for almost three years. Impressive spells on loan with Watford raised his profile to the extent that he earned his first England cap a year ago – which came in a friendly against Spain, ironically at Old Trafford.

The temptation, for Sir Alex Ferguson as much as Foster, is to return as soon as possible. But United’s medical staff don’t want to rush the former Stoke City keeper at the risk of re-injury.

"It's a serious injury,” he added. “I've been out for eight months. I always knew it would be tough this season. I've got to the stage now where I'm itching to go, but the physios are just having to hold me back. It's frustrating, but you have to listen to them.”

United’s Reserves play Liverpool next week, a game Foster would love to play in. But it is likely to come too soon, and there is more vital work to be done on the training ground before Foster is completely ready for his comeback.

“The Liverpool game on Tuesday for the Reserves