Sir Alex Ferguson has urged Fabio Capello not to play Wayne Rooney in more than one of the coming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus.

"I have no problems with Rooney joining up with the England squad and the saving grace is that they should win both games comfortably, even if he isn't fit in time for next Saturday," the Manchester United manager said. "But that's Fabio's call to make, when he assesses how Wayne's progressed over the next few days.

"If they decide to play him in one game and left him out next Saturday, it's not an issue with me. That rests with Fabio. They have got players who are more than capable of filling Wayne's boots in these games."

Rooney, left, limped out of United's midweek Champions League game against Aalborg with an ankle injury which may limit his involvement in today's visit to Blackburn Rovers.

Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher agreed new United contracts yesterday, with Scholes, 33, handed a one-year extension that will keep him at the club until June 2010 despite suffering a knee injury against Aalborg which will put him out for two to three months, and Fletcher given a contract that runs until June 2012.

The Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz, who signed a new four-year contract in the summer, said last night that "realistically" he may have to leave Ewood Park to achieve his goal of challenging for the Premier League title and playing in the Champions League again.