Manchester United flew off to South Africa for their pre-season tour with five names missing from the plane.

Owen Hargreaves, Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin van der Sar, Patrice Evra and Nani were the notable absentess with Hargreaves and Ronaldo out injured while the other three were given extended holidays after their summer exertions at Euro 2008.

Hargreaves suffered a recurrence of his long term tendonitis injury but Sir Alex Ferguson played down Hargreave's injury worries as he addressed the rumour that the England midfielder's injury was worse than the club first diagnosed.

"It was apparent as soon as he came back to training. It is the same as last year. Some people get these things," Ferguson said.

"Maybe re-starting training on the firmish grounds brings it on or maybe it is just an inherent problem.

"We are trying to sort it out now with injections. That is what we did last November and it worked. Hopefully these work and by the time we come back from South Africa he should be okay.

"Owen is not written off for the start of the season at all. I am sure he will be okay."

One player Ferguson is delighted to have back in the fray is club captain Gary Neville, who has been out for the last 16 months.

The 33-year-old defender will be given his chance in South Africa to wrestle back the right-back role from Wes Brown who has proved a more than able deputy his Neville's absence.

"For Gary in particular this trip is very important. He came through his 45 minutes at Aberdeen on Saturday with no problem at all, which is fantastic news," he added.

"The great thing about Gary is that he has not missed a training session since the last time he came back in April.

"We could have played him at the end of the season but Wes was doing so well.

"His form was so good I didn't want to have doubts in my mind about picking him. Wes had played in every game, so we kept it like that.

"But now, a new season is about to start and Gary will get his chance."

All said and done, the Red Devils are set to thrill the South Africa crowd with their dazzling brand of football before heading back to Manchester to continue their preparations for the defence of their title.