Rio Ferdinand will be out for up to a month - double the period initially feared - according to the latest reports on his thigh injury.

That puts the 30-year-old centre half out of England's friendly against Slovenia on 5 September and the crucial World Cup qualifier against Croatia four days later.

The news is also a blow for a Manchester United team desperate to bounce back from the shock 1-0 midweek defeat at Burnley.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed: "It has been established Rio will be out three to four weeks."

Ferguson is ready to recall Gary Neville to the starting line-up and throw Nemanja Vidic straight into his injury-hit defence for tomorrow's match at Wigan even though the centre-half is only just back to fitness after being an injury-hit pre-season.

"Experience is important and the kind of experience that Gary Neville would bring is obviously great experience," said Ferguson.

"Vidic's performance levels since he has been with us have been outstanding. You always want that in your team and we've got that back tomorrow. He has been training with us for 10 days and will be okay."

Despite the shaky start to the campaign and a long injury list, Ferguson insists he will not spend before the transfer window closes.

The manager said: "I have made the point, this is a good group of players. We have dominated the last two games of football although we would have liked to have scored more goals.

"Our ratio of goals last season dropped for the first time, it was our poorest for 15 years in terms of goal difference. That was the issue last year and it's going to be the issue this year unless we step up to the mark. I think we can do that.

"We can win games alright, this is a good squad of players."

Ferguson has taken heart from history and his team's traditional slow starts to campaigns.

But he aware that United cannot afford too many more errors if they are to win the Premier League for a record fourth consecutive year.

He added: "You can be philosophical if you like but, at the end of the day, there is a certain reality. And the reality is we can't lose too many games in this league and we've already lost one."