Wayne Rooney has been given the green light to join England's World Cup preparations even though he will not be able to train for another three weeks at the earliest.
After a CT scan revealed the 20-year-old was making encouraging progress in his recovery from a broken foot, Sir Alex Ferguson will allow Rooney to head to Germany with Sven-Goran Eriksson's main squad on June 5 before returning to Manchester on June 14 for the scan which will determine whether he will play any part in the tournament.
'This is very encouraging news,' said Eriksson. 'The fact he is flying out to Germany with us will give everyone a huge lift.'
The decision was reached following an extensive chat between Ferguson and Eriksson this morning and comes as something of a surprise given the Manchester United boss indicated his cautious approach to Rooney's recovery had been vindicated by the results of yesterday's scan.
Rooney will not be able to train until the results of the second scan are known, effectively ruling him out of the entire group phase and probably the first knock-out round as well.
'Wayne has trained incredibly hard,' said Alex Ferguson.
'We have continually supported Wayne with his fight to get to the World Cup but it is obvious that we have to be certain he is physically and mentally fit.
'The specialist has confirmed what we have always thought and we are confident in that assessment in that we are satisfied with Wayne's progress."
