Giggs, 34, is the most decorated player in the Premier League’s history and tops the club’s appearance charts having played in an amazing 816 (and counting) matches for the club in a career spanning nearly 20 years. Rooney, in his sixth season at United, has clocked up 252 appearances and found the net on 105 occasions.

At just 24 and with is game based on vision, strength and graft there is no reason Rooney can’t play on for another ten years and possibly even more. With that in mind, Rooney is setting his sights high and Giggs is his target.

“The way his life is, you have got to have great respect for the way he handles himself” Rooney said of Giggs.

“You look at the things he’s done and won – for me he’s the perfect role model and I hope I can reach 800 appearances for United.

“I have always said I would love to end my career here and if I could emulate what Giggsy has done at this club it would be an amazing achievement.”

It seems unlikely Rooney will break Giggs’ record, especially when you consider the Welshman is still putting in performances of the highest quality and so another season after the current one could well be on the cards. Giggs could realistically have notched up 850 appearances before he finally calls it a day and for Rooney to match that, he’d need to pull on the famous red shirt another 600 times; it’s an admirable target but one even Rooney will struggle to match.

A record that is not so far from reach is that of the club’s top goal scorer. Rooney is already sitting 18th in the club’s all time list with 105 goals; 144 goals short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 249.

Rooney has a strike rate of one goal every 0.42 games in his time at United. If he can keep that up, he’ll pass Sir Bobby’s record in his 600th appearance for the club and if he makes it to 800? Well, he’ll not only top the charts, he’ll be head and shoulders above the rest leaving a legacy no Red will ever forget.

Goals breed confidence, and if Valencia is short of a little confidence, his latest performances in a United shirt will go some way to building it up.

Nemanja Vidic believes the daunting task of filling Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots has hindered Valencia’s progress but thinks the Ecuadorian has turned a corner and will be showcasing his talents more regularly in the future:

“At the beginning of the season, Antonio had some difficulties because he was bought to replace Cristiano Ronaldo” said Vidic.

“The media paid special attention and were watching his every move, and the pressure paralysed him a little. He is a real artist, gradually gaining confidence and playing better and better with each match. Scoring will help him even more.”

A sentiment echoed by Vidic’s defensive partner, Rio Ferdinand:

“I think everyone is very pleased with what Antonio has done,” said Rio.

“He’s a really humble and quiet lad. He comes in, does his work and goes home.

“He is from the Paul Scholes mould of embracing hype and attention but he’s the most confident guy on the football field and he’s been very impressive since he arrived.

“He is always available, always backing himself on the ball and doesn’t mind a bit of contact. He is a strong lad and that’s what you want.

“He’s playing very well and I’m sure he will keep improving and keep scoring goals.”

It isn’t just his teammates that are impressed with him. Alex Ferguson is also pleased with Valencia’s progress and hopes the winger will score plenty more before the season is out.

“Valencia has been a plus point for the last few weeks. He is emerging very well, settling into the club, and his confidence is getting stronger.

“He has tremendous assets for a wide player, but the assets he didn’t show at Wigan were his goals, where he would maybe only get three or four a season. This was his challenge when he signed for us. Two in two games will help him.”

Rafael had an impressive debut season at United which saw him nominated for PFA young player of the year award but has been kept out of action so far this campaign as he recovered from a shoulder injury.

Summer signing Gabriel Obertan is also due to play his first game for the Reserves after recovering from a back injury carried over from his time at Bordeaux.

Owen Hargreaves spoke in depth about his rehabilitation after surgery on both knees and gave an insight into how United’s medical team assess the fitness of a player.

Hargreaves has a history of leg injuries; muscle injuries in particular. In 2002, he was sidelined on two occasions with thigh and calf injuries and further complications with his thigh led to a leave of absence in 2003.

In 2006, Hargreaves broke his leg and when he returned to action, believes his muscle was weak, and from that moment on, an even longer layoff was inevitable. During a training session, his “knee almost locked” and following some rest, he signed for us.

“After I broke my leg at Bayern they put me in a cast” said Hargreaves. “The muscle deteriorates being in that and when I came out of it after six weeks and started to play again I don’t think my muscle was strong enough.

“All the force, instead of going through the muscle went through the tendon. I had a slight twinge in my knee, we did some sprint training one day, something just went, and I didn’t know what it was.

“My knee almost locked and I couldn’t do anything. I was told to rest and I did. Then the transfer to United went through.”

Dr Steadman, a 72 year old knee specialist with 35 years experience, performed the recent surgery on Hargreaves and when he first diagnosed the injury, informed the midfielder he had one of the worst injuries he had ever seen.

“When I got to the Vail clinic he said ‘I have rarely ever seen a tendon look like that in my 35 years of working’.

“It was hard to take because this was coming from a guy who was 72 years old and had seen a lot of knees!”

Granted, the injury had probably gotten worse in his one season with us, but the damage was there. Despite that, Hargreaves still passed his medical, as he goes on to explain.

“I had the medical here and they could see I had some slight trouble but it was figured with time it would get better.”

Now I’m no doctor, but to me, that seems pretty dire decision making. £18 million left United’s coffers in order to acquire the services of a crocked footballer. Wages have pushed that outlay to well over £20 million so that’s a pretty expensive decision to boot.

This isn’t the first time Ferguson has signed a player of questionable health. United signed Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2001 for the princely sum of £19 million.

Only a season earlier, a deal to bring the Dutchman to the club had fallen through due to concerns regarding his knee. Shortly afterwards, van Nistelrooy suffered a cruciate injury that sidelined him for 10 months.

Of course, van Nistelrooy turned out to be a fantastic signing for us, perhaps that’s what swung the medical in Hargreaves’ favour. He does have all the characteristics of a great footballer afterall and exactly what we need; albeit with dodgy knees.

It also brings into question the real fitness of Michael Owen. The injury plagued striker signed for United on a free in the summer and is even on a performance related pay structure. If the club are prepared to pay upwards of £20 million and gamble on the fitness of a player, imagine what they’d take for nothing?

Owen’s already had his first groin complaint of the season and I suspect they’ll be a few more by the end of the campaign. The question is, will he score more goals than he suffers injuries? If the answer turns out to be yes, the gamble payed off.

Recovered and back in training, Hargreaves is now determined to get back into the team and is targeting a return next month.

“I can’t wait to get back involved in it all,” he told ManUtd.com. “I can’t wait to play again for United, to be able to pull on the shirt and have an effect on games. Running out at Old Trafford will be a big thing for me. It’ll be amazing.”

Hargreaves spent a year in the States during his rehabilitation and recently returned to Manchester under the watchful eye of United’s medical team. The England International is now in his final phase of that rehabilitation and Hargreaves is thankful to be back in training with the rest of the lads.

“The reception I’ve had has been great,” he said. “That was one of the things that I really missed, being with the guys in the dressing room. There’s such a great energy around this club. It’s fantastic being back in with all the different characters and personalities.”

Van der Sar was rarely troubled in the match but the veteran Dutchman is pleased to have come through the test and is aiming for a first team call up in United’s next match against Bolton on 17th October.

“I will be ready for Bolton,” Van der Sar told MUTV.

“I feel good and I haven’t had any reaction. The match is still 10 days away so I have more training to do, then I will be ready for my first start of the season.

“It is never nice to watch from the sidelines. It is a lot harder being injured than when you are playing every game that’s for sure.

“You want to play as many games and see as much action as possible.”

The news will be welcomed by everyone associated with United as Ben Foster has put in some pretty poor displays in Van der Sar’s absence.

It remains to be seen whether Ferguson will keep faith with the young Englishman, or look to find a replacement as Van der Sar approaches his 40th birthday.

That’s a drama for another day however, right now, let’s just be thankful we’ve got a real goalkeeper back!

De Laet only signed for United in January and has so far made two first team appearances; a Premiership win over Hull last season and a substitute appearance in the Carling Cup this season when he was brought on after just 30 minutes following Fabio’s red card against Wolves.

Alex Ferguson has been impressed with his progress since joining and is keen to keep a close on the young Belgian.

“Alex Ferguson told me I’m very close to the first team,” he is quoted as saying in The Sun.

“There has been talk of me going out on loan but Sir Alex said I can’t leave as he may need me. The new contract is a surprise and fantastic news.”

Evans has made six appearances so far this season but is still behind both Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in the pecking order. When both fit, it is difficult to not select the pair given their formidable partnership but Ferguson knows it won’t be long until Evans earns his place in the starting eleven.

“Sometimes I don’t know whether I am doing the right thing leaving Jonny out because his performance level has been so high,” said Ferguson.

“At times I have been unfair to him. But he is still young. He has a great future here and time will come when I have to put him in.

“The great thing about footballers and young players in particular is that one summer they come back and they are a different player. They have a different physique and they tell you by their performance that it is time for them to go into the team.”

At just 21 years old, Evans certainly has a bright future ahead of him and has already made 43 appearances for United in his short career and with Rio Ferdinand seemingly struggling with fitness this term, he looks sure to get his fair share of games this time around.

Evans himself is just happy to be involved for now and is concentrating on improving further.

“I did improve last season. You do have your ups and downs during the season but I got more confident in my own ability as the season went on. I was loving every game because you just want to be involved.”

“You still want to impress, but the coaches are always asking how you feel and whether you want to take a day off here or there.”

One area of his game Scholes is particularly keen to improve upon is his goal scoring record of late. Scholes has scored once already this season; the only goal in a Champions League clash with Besiktas. Last season he scored three, the season before 2 and the time before that he netted seven times.

In his heyday, Scholes was a 20 goal a season midfielder and whilst those days are never to return, he is looking to bag a few more goals this time around.

“My goals have dried up a bit in recent years and I’d like to get back scoring a few. When I was younger, I used to get forward a lot more than I do now.”

“I think the manager expects me to stay in the middle of the park nowadays and pass to the players who can go forward and score.

“I’d still like to get forward every now and then and chip in, but you just have to play however the manager wants you to play.”

It was almost 15 years ago to the day when a 20 year old Paul Scholes made his first team debut for Manchester United. A League Cup fixture in the 94/95 season away to Port Vale in which United won courtesy of their new boy on the block. Scholes scored both goals as United won the game 2-1 and a legend was born.

Scholes made 25 appearances that season and finished with seven goals. Sixteen seasons later and the now veteran midfielder is still a regular in the first team. In his time, Scholes has notched up 610 appearances for the club and scored 143 goals.

He has scored 98 Premier League goals in just over 400 appearances and will become United’s first player to score 100 in the competition should Ryan Giggs not beat him to it. Giggs has played in almost 100 games more and is poised at 99. The sensible money is on Giggs but you can’t rule Scholes out and as he showed on Tuesday against Besiktas; he still has an eye for goal.

Scholes was once a 20 goal a season midfielder but whilst Ferguson admits those days are long gone, he’s confident there’s plenty left in his tank.

“I don’t think this is Paul’s last season, not the way that he plays,” said Fergie. “He is not the type to burst in to the penalty box any more, is he?”

On how long Scholes has left in the tank he added “It’s difficult to say because it’s still only September, but I am seeing the fresh Scholesy and the best time to use him is when he is fresh.

“He will not be playing the whole season, but if I get 25 games out of him at the level we saw on Saturday, I will be delighted at that.

That has been speculation Scholes would finish his career at his hometown team, Oldham Athletic but Ferguson remains highly skeptical.

“”What else has he got? He’s a football man. He isn’t going to drop down through the leagues, I’m sure of that. Once you’ve played for United for as long as he has – almost 20 years, Christ – what else are you going to do?

“I have read that stuff about him playing for Oldham in his last year — no chance.”