Confirmation Wayne Rooney suffered a hairline fracture of his left foot during Saturday's goalless draw with Reading only worsened an already difficult situation for the United boss.

Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have only just returned to training after long-term problems, while Carlos Tevez is effectively only a week into his pre-season after an extended lay-off following Argentina's Copa America campaign.

Ferguson is so short of orthodox forwards he ended up with John O'Shea partnering Cristiano Ronaldo up front against Steve Coppell's men, so it was probably little surprise they failed to find a crucial breakthrough even against a side reduced to 10 men after the dismissal of Dave Kitson.

But Ferguson will resist the temptation to splash the cash once more, insisting he is happy with his current options, with Tevez almost certain to be handed his debut against Portsmouth on Wednesday.

"Carlos Tevez is available now and Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are training," said Ferguson.

"With Wayne as well, we have four strikers so I am not looking at a situation where I have to add to that number."

Nevertheless, the loss of Rooney for an extended period, following hot on the heels of the sales of Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi, presents a problem United could well do without.

With Rooney leaving the ground with his foot in plaster, it would be a major surprise if Rooney was back in action within two months, ruling him out of a succession of key fixtures for club and country, including four crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers.

"There was a bit of swelling around the injury," said Ferguson.

"There was no point him continuing because we have a long season ahead."

Rooney's injury overshadowed a strange contest in which United dominated and created plenty of chances without managing to put Reading's goal under sustained pressure.

Ryan Giggs did hit a post, while the best of a string of saves from Royals keeper Marcus Hahnemann denied Paul Scholes near the end.

As Reading boss Steve Coppell reflected, not a bad effort from the USA keeper, who had surgery on his hand only six weeks ago.

"When he got back to us he couldn't have saved a tennis ball," said Coppell.

"He had no strength in his hand whatsoever. But the progress he has made and diligent work he has undertaken over the last six weeks is a credit to him."

Although Coppell claimed he felt like apologising for the smothering tactics he employed against his old club, he had no need to given they worked to perfection.

In fact, the only thing that went wrong for Reading was Kitson's loss of control which resulted in a rash challenge on Patrice Evra just 37 seconds after his introduction as a second-half substitute.

Coppell, while defending his player, admitted referee Rob Styles was probably correct to brandish the red card.

Ferguson was in no doubt either.

"It looked a terrible challenge," he said.

"There was real intent there and the referee had no option."