FABIO CAPELLO, the England manager, has been assured that Wayne Rooney’s ankle injury should not be regarded as a serious threat to his participation in this summer’s World Cup. While the expectation is that Rooney could miss most of Manchester United’s title run-in, Capello’s initial concerns have been eased during a series of telephone calls between the medical staff for the club and their counterparts at the Football Association.

Rooney’s employers, on Ferguson’s instructions, are refusing to make any official pronouncements until the manager’s press conference tomorrow. But various messages have been sent to Capello to let him know that, unless anything more serious is diagnosed in the scans, Rooney is facing a lay-off of up to four weeks and will have recovered with time to spare before the pre-World Cup friendlies against Japan and Mexico next month.

That prognosis emanated from an examination of the inflamed area before the team flew back from what degenerated into a chastening experience against Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night – one, for Rooney, that left the most prolific scorer in the Premier League walking on crutches with his right foot in a large protective boot.

He was taken straight from the runway at Manchester airport to a private hospital in the city’s Whalley Range district but the fact he was able to undergo a scan is being regarded as significant. Had there been extensive ligament damage, the area would have been so swollen the procedure would have been delayed for another day or two.

One of his team-mates reported the expectation within the United dressing room was that Rooney would miss three to four weeks.

At the very least United are planning for Dimitar Berbatov to take Rooney’s place for the next fortnight, starting with the game against Chelsea on Saturday that could go a long way to determining the destination of this season’s championship, and then the return leg against Bayern next Wednesday.

If United can overcome a 2-1 deficit to reach the semi-final, they will play both legs before the end of April, as well as league fixtures against Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Rooney, the scorer of 34 goals this season and the overwhelming favourite for the footballer-of-the-year awards, could be in danger of missing them all, or at least most of them.

Capello described the situation yesterday as “terrible news” but the ramifications could be far more serious now for United than the national team. That said, the episode in the Allianz Arena on Tuesday was a warning to Capello of the calamity of counting on the striker obsessively.

The situation at Old Trafford is more nuanced. Alex Ferguson will not be rending his clothes or wailing over damage to Rooney.

It is never his habit to do so on these occasions since he is stoical and, more relevantly, appreciates that there is no point in dishing out excuses for failure to the remaining members of the squad.

In private, he is sure to find it galling to be denied the contribution of a player so adaptable that he could immediately redefine himself as a goalmouth predator rather than a free spirit.

Ferguson still has imposing alternatives. United may have appeared almost to be becalmed in the transfer market last year, but they have often made waves in the past. The current problem merely reminds people of the expense Ferguson went to when acquiring Berbatov from Spurs.

It is in keeping with the Bulgarian’s pared-down style that he should be having a greater impact than critics imagine. He starts more games and scores more goals than is commonly supposed.

The touch and vision of the attacker are equal if not superior to Rooney’s. While he does not have the devastating intent of the Englishman, Berbatov should, as tactfully as possible, exude gladness over any invitation to come to the fore at last.

Roger Hackney, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, adds: Initial reports suggest Wayne Rooney has a sprained ankle caused by damage to the ligaments around the joint. In his case, if the diagnosis is two to four weeks out, it is probably a small tear to the anterior ligament at the front of the ankle at worst. The ankle will swell up and there will be a fair amount of pain.

Rooney needed to have a scan because often with ankle sprains there may be additional damage to the joint – as the ankle goes over you can shear parts of bone and cartilage off the talus bone, which forms the bottom part of the ankle. If that has happened then it is a much more serious problem, but a scan can rule that out.

In the short-term his medical team would have iced the injury and elevated it. Rooney was on crutches yesterday: that will prevent the ankle moving outwards and being re-injured. However, it is important to get movement back into the ankle to stop muscle wastage and maintain fitness, so he will do work on an exercise bike and in a hydrotherapy pool fairly quickly.

Rooney has had a few metatarsal injuries, but there is no reason this injury is related. However, footballers go over on ankles a lot because of the amount of twisting and turning in the game, and it’s no surprise that he has a history of sprained ankles. If they repeatedly injure an ankle there is a danger of developing footballers’ ankle, which is a form of arthritis in the joint.

That is a condition that can end a player’s career, although there is no evidence Rooney has the condition currently. Heavy strapping can help prevent ankle injuries, as it stops a joint moving around. However, it also restricts mobility, which is very important in football, so any strapping used by Rooney would need to be light.

Another long-term danger for him is the loss of ‘positional sense’ in the ankle. When you tear ligaments you lose the nerve fibres that tell the ankle where it is: that makes it easier to go over on the ankle and damage the joint again.

Guardian Service