Paul Scholes, the Manchester United midfielder, has flown back from the club's pre-season tour of Asia after suffering a knee injury in the 4-0 defeat of FC Seoul at the weekend.

The 32-year-old former England international will undergo an exploratory knee operation in the next few days, and is certain to miss the start of the new Premiership season. "Paul fell on his knee in the last game," Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager said."We've sent him home for arthroscopy to see what kind of damage there is. We don't think it's serious but it could keep him out for three weeks or a month."

United begin their the defence of their Premiership title against Reading at Old Trafford on August 12, followed by a trip to Portsmouth on August 15. With earliest indications suggesting a recovery period of three weeks, the Manchester derby on August 19 could mark Scholes' return to action.

He will also miss the Charity Shield clash with Chelsea, at Wembley Stadium on August 5th.

In the third game of United's four-game pre-season tour, new signing Nani was on the scoresheet as Shenzhen FC were comfortably dispatched 6-0 in Macau. Guangzhou Pharmaceutical will provide the opposition in the tour finale on Friday.

Wes Brown, the United defender, has spoken about his personal and team goals for the new campaign. "For myself I want to play as many games as possible and when I do play to play well," he said. "I hope as a team we can win trophies again. We have a good squad now. Nani played well and fitted in fine on his first game. It's good for the whole season for the squad and shows what a player he is. We need players who can come on and change the game. The signings have done well, obviously Owen [Hargreaves] and Anderson are still to come in, but they have fitted in well."