MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Alex Ferguson insists he will not rush midfielder Darren Fletcher back into competitive action.
Fletcher made his first appearance for United since November 2011 during a testimonial match for Aberdeen legend Neil Simpson yesterday.
The Scotland international had been sidelined with ulcerative colitis – a chronic inflammatory bowel condition that threatened to end his career.
But he came off the bench for the final 30 minutes at Pittodrie Stadium as United went down 2-1 in their last hit-out before the English Premier League season gets underway.
“For Darren, it’s great to be back and I hope it’s the start for him,” Ferguson said. ”We don’t know as we’re all aware he’s got this issue he needs to deal with and he’s dealing with it very well at the moment. What we’ve seen is encouraging for us.
“He joined in training a couple of weeks ago and it’s one of these situations where you say ‘let’s see how he does’ because he has had a really difficult time in the last year. He’s got to the stage now where he feels he needs a game. He’s been training really well.
“I let him join Scotland this week for their game but he wanted a game so I said ‘come to Aberdeen and join up afterwards’.”
United open their Premier League campaign away to Everton on Monday.
