Manchester United have left Owen Hargreaves off their Champions League list.
The Times says United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's decision raises fresh doubts about the player's chances of returning to action this season. Hargreaves has been sidelined for the past 16½ months after having operations on both knees to cure chronic tendinitis that has restricted him to 25 starts for United since his projected £20.2 million move from Bayern Munich in July 2007.
Ferguson, the United manager, claimed last week that he hoped to have Hargreaves available for the first leg of his team's Champions League round-of-16 tie away to AC Milan on Tuesday week.
But the decision to replace him with Ritchie de Laet, a 21-year-old full back who has made only four starts, in the revised 25-man squad submitted to Uefa this week for the Champions League knockout phase is a worrying turn of events for United and England.
