Early injuries could tell the tale of Manchester United's season

What happens when a club's first choice right back, two central midfielders, left and right wingers and star striker are injured? What happens when at least three of those players were instrumental in bringing titles to the club last season?

Only time will tell what this slew of preseason injuries will mean to Manchester United, reigning champions of England and Europe.

The list of the Red Devils' talent currently spending more time on the trainer's table than the training pitch is startling: full back Gary Neville; holding midfielders Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick; winger Ji-Sung Park and forward Wayne Rooney, who apparently came down with a virus while on United's tour of Africa (for an interesting take on the perils of preseason touring, read Tony Cascarino's column on the Times website).

To top it off, now that he's staying, forward Cristiano Ronaldo is still recovering from ankle surgery and won't be available until at least next month.

And injuries aren't the end of manager Alex Ferguson's selection woes: midfielder Anderson is currently with the Brazilian national team at the Beijing Olympics.

It will be argued that if any team can cope with a Swiss cheese-like roster, it's United (although the same claim could be made of Chelsea). With the likes of Nani, Carlos Tevez, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs available to fill some of those holes, the Red Devils won't exactly starve.

But a slow start could be meaningful come May. Chelsea will be out for revenge after being pipped to both titles last season and their squad is stable, if not strengthened over last year.

And while Ronaldo has committed himself to the team now, if United need a push to win the title this year, his heart may start looking towards Madrid sometime in March, just when United need him most.

Ferguson needs to look at the few remaining weeks of August carefully, shrewdly and be willing to pounce at a stop-gap measure if one presents itself.

Matches against Newcastle (H), Portsmouth (A) and Fulham (H) come before a vital international break over the first two weeks of September. The squad had better be coming together by this point, as United travel to Liverpool on Sept. 13. Following closely behind that fixture is the start of the Champions League group stages, also important to a successful United season.

Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov will remain on Ferguson's radar, but with a distinct lack of news on such a transfer, it makes me think Juande Ramos feels he is dealing from a position of strength, with enough money to accomplish his goals without having to stoop to United's fee proposal. A poor result, particularly on the road to Portsmouth, could force Ferguson to match Spurs asking price for the striker however.

I've heard it bandied about in the papers and on television that Ferguson's lack of transfer movement has more to do with the availability of funds than it has to do with his evaluation of the first team's strength. Manchester United and their American owners, the Glazer family, are deeply indebted and it has been suggested that the current credit crisis is holding back the club's transfer ambitions.

A slow start has been fatal in the past few seasons, but as Arsenal proved last year, a quick start to the campaign guarantees nothing. It'll be interesting to see how things at Old Trafford transpire.