Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says Phil Jones is on the brink of returning.

However, Nemanja Vidic still needs more time to recover from a knee operation and will not be rushed back.

"Nemanja is a long way off," Sir Alex told MUTV on Friday. "We can forget about him until after Christmas, I think.

"Jones trains with the first team on Monday with the football side, which is good, and he should be available maybe 10 days after that so things are looking better that way."