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Wayne Rooney has been on the sidelines

The striker is currently recovering from a hamstring injury and in pencilled in to feature against West Ham this Sunday. But his recovery has been hampered by the poor weather in England this week which has restricted training.

Even if Rooney does not feature at Upton Park the United boss will not try to block England coach Fabio Capello from taking him to Seville for next Wednesday's friendly with Spain.

Capello will name his squad for the match on Saturday evening and with United not playing until the following day he will have question marks over a number of his star names, hopeful they will come through club duty unscathed.

"I have not spoken to Fabio but I hope to do so in order to explain the situation,'' said Ferguson. "He can then decide after dialogue with the physios whether it is worth taking Wayne to Seville.

"I have no strong issue with that. It is a question of whether he would play or be a substitute, which is the same position as I am in. It is up to Fabio. I really have no strong objection to that.''

Ferguson also confirmed Gary Neville will miss the West Ham trip with a virus that forced him to come off against Everton last Saturday.

His automatic replacement, Wes Brown, does have a bruised foot, but is expected to play.