Alex Ferguson is optimistic that Wayne Rooney can keep his absence from Manchester United down to a minimum.

In the first leg of last season's Champion League Rooney famously returned having suffered from ankle damage after just eight days. Within just over a week he was ready to play the quarter final with Bayern Munich.

Ferguson has however confirmed that Rooney will be off the pitch for "two or three weeks". He will most likely miss a Champions Leagu clash with Buraspor and Stoke on October 24.

He will return to Old Trafford against West Brom on October 16.

The Manchester United boss said "Wayne has done quite well with his recovery from injury in the past," said the United boss, ahead of tonight's [Wednesday's]  encounter with Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium.

"It is a straightforward ankle injury. And it is not the same one he did in Munich."