Rio Ferdinand's Injury Woes Continue: When Will He Be Back?

Throughout the last several seasons, Rio Ferdinand has been one of the most important players on Manchester United.

Ferdinand, along with defensive partner Nemanja Vidić, have been major factors in Man United winning the Premier League three consecutive times, as well as in winning the 2008 Champions League final.

But during the course of this season, Ferdinand has been hit hard by the injury bug, and has missed United's first four Premier League games of the season.

After Ferdinand came back from injury on September 12, he played in five Premier League matches.

But, he also nearly cost Man United the Manchester Derby against Manchester City due to a turnover at the beginning of stoppage time that Craig Bellamy was able to score on. He also got beat in his final Premier League match against Liverpool by Fernando Torres, in what turned out to be the match winner.

Since then, Ferdinand has been out due to a mysterious back injury that no one seems to know how to fix, and manager Sir Alex Ferguson has already stated that Ferdinand would be out until at least the beginning of 2010.

But now, with the new year looming, Ferguson has already stated that there appears to be "no light at the end of the tunnel" for Ferdinand, astating that he cannot put a timetable on when Ferdinand will be back for United.

Since Ferdinand last played at Liverpool on October 25, he has missed 13 matches for United, and his chances of making the English national team for next year's World Cup could now be in jeopardy.

In the last two weeks, though, Ferdinand has received an injection for his back, and has already insisted that he expects to be part of the English side in next year's World Cup.

So now that you have read this, what do you, the reader, think? When will Rio Ferdinand return to play for Manchester United?