Nemanja Vidic was missing from the Manchester United squad that headed out to Malaysia on Thursday afternoon for the first leg of a four-match Far East tour.
Although United have not given a reason for Vidic's absence, the defender was forced to pull out of a World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands last month after suffering an ankle injury in Serbia's victory over Austria.
With Wes Brown and Gary Neville included in a 22-man party, there was no point risking Vidic, although Sir Alex Ferguson will hope to have the former Spartak Moscow man ready for the start of United's Premier League title defence against Birmingham on August 16.
Of Ferguson's three new signings, only Michael Owen boarded the plane bound for Kuala Lumpur, where United will tackle a Malaysia XI on Saturday.
The other players to miss out were the perenially injured Owen Hargreaves, Danny Welbeck, and Brazilian full-back Rafael Da Silva, who has been suffering with an ankle problem since the end of last season.
The full squad is: Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Ben Foster; Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Fabio da Silva; Nani, Zoran Tosic, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, Darron Gibson, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs; Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Federico Macheda, Wayne Rooney.
Think he is being rested ba...