London, Apr 11: Manchester United could be set for a triple dose of good news on the injury front with Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and Brazilian full-back Rafael da Silva all due to be back in the next fortnight.

Ferdinand is first in line, with Sir Alex Ferguson confirming that the England defender could return from a groin injury in next week’s Champions League return against Porto, The Mirror reported.

The 30-year-old suffered a recurrence of the problem in the final moments of England’s World Cup win over Ukraine last week and has already been ruled out of Barclays Premier League trip to Sunderland.

Ferguson also revealed that Rafael has returned to training this week after an ankle injury that has kept him out since the end of January, with Brown not too far behind following a similar problem that has kept him out for most of the season.

“Rafael started training this week. He needs a few more days training but I would imagine he could be available for next weekend. Wes is not too far away either and will start football training next week,” said Ferguson.

With an FA Cup semi-final against Everton on next Sunday, followed by a series of key Premier League games, even if United fail to beat Porto it would still be a major plus to have more defenders available, particularly as Jonny Evans is a major doubt for the Sunderland game after suffering a groin injury on Tuesday. (ANI)