Ritchie De Laet will be the latest player to answer Sir Alex Ferguson's centre-back SOS - if Nemanja Vidic fails to recover from a calf strain by Saturday.
The young Belgian impressed at right-back and later in the middle after Vidic was substituted in Tuesday's win over Wolves, and is now set to start in the centre against Fulham at Craven Cottage - with Wes Brown already ruled out by his boss.
"Wes has a hamstring strain and it's going to keep him out for a couple of weeks," Sir Alex confirmed on MUTV.
"Vidic suffered a calf strain tonight and that's a worrry for us ahead of Saturday. We just have to get on with it.
"Young De Laet has shown some promise and he did very well when he moved to centre-back. He is a natural centre-half and he'll probably be there on Saturday."
De Laet was making only his second league appearance for United, following his final-day debut at Hull City in May. He completed 90 minutes, in a back four that finished with Darren Fletcher at right-back, Michael Carrick in the centre and Patrice Evra on the left.
Ritchie De Laet is set to make his second consecutive league start for United at Fulham on Saturday, following praise from his manager.
At his pre-match press conference, Sir Alex Ferguson spoke of his delight for De Laet's upturn in fortune since arriving in M16, and said he had no qualms about fielding the Belgian at centre-half (his natural position) if Nemanja Vidic isn't fit.
The United boss said: “Ritchie's been fantastic. We gave him a new contract about six weeks ago because we see there is good potential there.
“He’s developed in training, he’s only 20, he’s very quick and powerful, and he’s now in the Belgian squad, so it’s been a remarkable turnaround for him.”
Ritchie arrived at Old Trafford in January as a virtual unknown from Stoke City. Sir Alex explained his journey to United from the Reds’ former feeder club, Royal Antwerp.
“We sent players over there for a few years like John O’Shea, Craig Cathcart, Jonny Evans, Danny Simpson, quite a lot of players.
"Ritchie was a young player there at the time and we sent Warren Joyce (now Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reserve-team assistant) over there when they were struggling for a coach.
“Antwerp sold Ritchie to a Turkish team but they had financial problems and couldn’t pay his wages. So he had to go on a free transfer and Stoke City brought him to England. “We were having problems with young centre-halves in our reserves when Warren Joyce remembered Ritchie from his Antwerp days.
"We spoke to Stoke about him, and that’s how he came to be here. He never played a first-team game for Stoke, he probably wasn’t there long enough.” Nemanja Vidic is a doubt for Saturday, but Sir Alex is hopeful that he might overcome a calf injury picked up in the win over Wolves in midweek.
If the Serbian centre-half is fit, then De Laet is likely to start at right-back again.