have confirmed Ashley Young is set to be out for the next fortnight after sustaining an ankle injury.

The former Aston Villa star limped out of the United’s 2-1 derby defeat to local rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford on Monday.

After being assessed by the club’s medical staff at their Carrington training ground this week it has been confirmed he faces a spell on the sidelines, though it is not believed to be too serious.

“Ashley is out,” said boss Sir Alex Ferguson at a press conference on Friday. “He took a whack on his ankle. He will maybe miss two weeks.”

As well as the trip to Stoke, Young will also miss the trip to West Ham and Premier League home clash against his former club Aston Villa.

However, there is some good news for the Red Devils as captain Nemanja Vidic returned to full training on Friday while fellow centre-back Jonny Evans is also fit again after a hamstring injury.

Veteran midfielder Paul Scholes is also in contention after recovering from a knee injury that has kept him out since the end of January.

Ferguson added: “It will be a terrific boost to get his [Scholes’] football intelligence back in the squad.

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“He has been out for a few weeks so we need to get him back out training with us.”

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