Louis Saha

Louis Saha's future at Manchester United is in serious jeopardy after it emerged that Sir Alex Ferguson has finally grown tired of the striker's injury problems.

Saha missed Tuesday's victory against Sheffield United at Old Trafford with hamstring trouble and has only managed to start 25 games all season.

And it is understood that United manager Ferguson is increasingly irritated at Saha's failure to play through pain and has not ruled out selling him this summer if he gets a decent offer.

The situation came to a head this week when Saha trained at the weekend and appeared as though he may be fit for selection against Neil Warnock's team on Tuesday night.

But Ferguson was disappointed to hear Saha say on Monday that his hamstring was sore again and that he didn't feel he could play.

With United battling for honours on three fronts, the fixture schedule ahead of Ferguson's players is daunting and as such the Scot needs as many bodies available as possible.

Sources close to Saha last night suggested that the player may be fit for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Milan in 13 days, but not before.

Publically Ferguson has been supportive of French international Saha but privately he is now becoming unsure about whether he has the mental fortitude required to perform consistently at the very highest level of the game.

Asked about Saha's condition after Tuesday's game, Ferguson's reply was telling.

"As regards Saha, I just don't know," he said gruffly.

During his three years at United, Saha has only started 66 games, a poor return on the £12m United paid Fulham in January 2004. Wayne Rooney, for example, has started 125 games in a shorter space of time while Cristiano Ronaldo has been in the starting line-up on 145 occasions.

Saha has been troubled by knee problems on three occasions and has undergone surgery, but it has been the niggles and strains that have annoyed Ferguson this season.

Ferguson knows that he needs a reliable through-the-middle striker to act as a focal point of United's attack and given that Saha has failed to take his opportunity to become the long-term replacement for Ruud van Nistelrooy the manager will try to buy one and offload Saha in the summer.