Smith career not under threat

Alan Smith's injury is not expected to be a threat to his footballing career.

The 25-year-old suffered a horrific injury after coming on as a substitute during United's FA Cup fifth round exit at Liverpool on Saturday.

After blocking a John Arne Riise free kick, Smith landed awkwardly and dislocated his ankle, which in turn caused his leg to break.

He faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines, while Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson commented the injury was 'one of the worst I've ever seen'.

But Smith's representative Black is confident that the former Leeds United ace will play again, although he is unsure when the England international will return.

"Certainly, from speaking to Alan, that's not been indicated to him at all (the injury being career threatening)," Black told Sky Sports News.

"He is a pretty tough character and is already talking about it. It is frustrating, but he will try and get back to fitness as soon as he can."

Smith has already had his ankle pushed back into place, while he is undergoing an operation on his broken leg on Sunday morning.

Black expanded on the injury situation and also conceded it will be around two months before the player can seriously commence his rehabilitation.

He added: "The latest situation is that everything went fairly well last night and they were able to put the ankle back in.

"They had the chance to X-ray and have a look at the break on the leg, which is being operated on this morning.

"It's hard to tell exactly how bad the damage will be to the ligaments on the ankle until it has all calmed down.

"The two injuries in themselves certainly aren't career threatening, but a combination of the two is a problem for the rehabilitation.

"He will be in a pot for six-to-eight weeks and won't be able to do a lot on rehab until after that when he will be starting on the road to recovery, hopefully.

"It looks like when he was landing, and put all the weight on his ankle, that's when the dislocation happened, and the force of that broke his leg. That's what I think happened."

Black revealed that Smith also wanted to pay tribute to the assistance he received from Liverpool and United staff, in addition to both clubs' fans.

He continued: "Even though he was a little bit delirious as he was coming off, he was able to recognise that not just Man United fans, but a lot of Liverpool fans, were giving him a round of applause.

"All the staff and various doctors have been fantastic and he wanted to say thank you to all those people."