Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has confessed that he may never actually recover from the niggling knee injury that he has been suffering with.

The injury has disrupted the English internationals entire season as he has just made 14 starts in the Premier League since switching over to Manchester United from Bayern Munich last year.

Hargreaves has been told by the doctors that there is little chance that his patella tendon problem will heal completely.

However he is glad that he still can play and hopes to play as many matches as he can with the defending Premier League champions.

"It's something the doctors say I have to manage because when you get this problem it stays with you," he told The Times.

"It's the patella tendon and it's different to most injuries. If you break something, that's easy.

"The bone or the ligament will heal. But the tendon is more complicated. It has to burn itself out.

"Sometimes it takes a few months, sometimes a few years. There aren't a lot of answers.

"I'd like to play every game but it's not possible and you have to say 'Hats off' to the lads who have been in the team ahead of me."