Hargreaves on verge of return

Owen Hargreaves could be back in the Manchester United squad to face Chelsea on Saturday.

Sir Alex Ferguson revealed on Friday that he is considering bringing Hargreaves - who has not played a first-team game since September 2008 after undergoing surgery to both knees - and John O'Shea back into the fold over the coming week.

"John O'Shea and Owen Hargreaves have trained very well with the first team," said Ferguson. "They are not far away and I may use one of them as substitute against Chelsea and the other on Wednesday (against Bayern Munich).

O'Shea has been missing since suffering complications in his recovery from a dead leg sustained in the Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off defeat to France in November.

Although it appears O'Shea is further forward on the comeback trail, the fact Hargreaves is not part of United's European squad, and therefore unavailable for Wednesday's quarter-final second-leg against former club Bayern, lends weight to the belief Ferguson will have the 29-year-old on the bench against Chelsea.

"If I include one on Saturday and one on Wednesday it will give them the confidence that they are back," added Ferguson. "That is what they need.

"John O'Shea in particular has done a lot of work. The boy has come on terrifically well in the last two or three weeks."