Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he was left with no option but to send Owen Hargreaves for a career-saving knee operation in America. After missing another pre-season and being limited to just three appearances this term, the 27 year old was forced to accept a course of injections from a specialist in Leicester was having no effect.

"We have exhausted every other way of dealing with the situation," said Ferguson.

"We have tried to manage it by sending him to a specialist in Leicester for a series of injections.

"Their success rate is very good. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough for Owen because he was still feeling great pain in his knee caps.

"We had to look at the next stage and that meant sending him for an operation."

The £18m signing has had one operation and will return to Canada for a short spell before having a second.

"It is going well so far," said Ferguson.

"The surgeon is very pleased with it and we had a physio there who was happy as well.

"We hope it will get rid of the problem and he will come back a new player."