Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be out of the game for three months as he recovers from knee surgery.
The Norwegian striker has been struggling with the problem since pre-season and it was decided to follow the pattern of last term and send him for an operation quickly to ensure he will return for the vital second half of the campaign.
Ferguson believes his squad has the depth to cope with Solskjaer's absence, even if it puts even more emphasis on the fitness of playmaker Paul Scholes.
"We've adopted the same policy as last season, where anything that needs to be done this early we get it done," Ferguson told the Manchester Evening News.
"It is a blow for us and now the transfer window has closed, there is nothing I can do about it.
"But I do feel we have a good enough squad to cope. We have alternatives like Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Forlan and Darren Fletcher so we'll just get on with it."
Ferguson is now sweating on Scholes coming through his first week's training without a problem after finally showing signs of recovery from a long-standing hernia complaint.
The United boss is hoping to take Scholes on the Champions League trip to Stuttgart next week, even though he has not been involved in the first-team squad since the win over Wolves at the end of last month.
It has already been decided that if Scholes does suffer a setback, he will be forced to undergo a third operation, which would rule him out for a couple of months, a period which includes England's vital Euro 2004 qualifier with Turkey in Istanbul.
With Brazilian World Cup winner Kleberson already sidelined with a dislocated shoulder, the injury problems are mounting up for the Old Trafford outfit, who also have Wes Brown on the long-term sick list after a second cruciate ligament operation.