Owen Hargreaves is edging ever closer to making his United return.

The 28-year-old hasn't played for the Reds since September 2008 and has since undergone surgery on both knees.

Most of Hargreaves' rehabilitation work was done in the United States, although the England international returned to Manchester late last month to rejoin his team-mates.

Sir Alex has been impressed with the midfielder's progress and says fans can expect to see him in a United shirt in the near future.

"Owen's doing a lot of good work now and we're pleased with that.

"As I said when he came back to Manchester, it's not something we need to rush. Because he's been out for a year, we monitor it a bit more closely.

"But he's giving us good signs and he should be back at the first-team level three weeks from now, easily."