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Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United centre-back Wes Brown is the "best natural defender" in England and has backed him to come back even better next season after a summer break.
Brown will play in his first FA Cup final on Saturday as United face Millwall, and it will be a day to savour for the 23-year-old who has already had to recover from two cruciate ligament injuries and a broken ankle in his injury-blighted career at Old Trafford.
Despite a somewhat shaky start on his return to first-team action with United this season, Brown has settled back into the back-line well and has made 16 consecutive appearances this year.
And while his manager's conversations with England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson helped end the Mancunian's hopes of appearing in Euro 2004 this summer, Ferguson is confident that a lengthy close-season break will help Brown return even stronger in 2004/05.
"Wes is the best natural defender in the country," said Ferguson. "He is a fantastic boy, absolutely brilliant. He's faced the hardest challenges with so much spirit and determination.
"He has had a torrid time with injuries and since he has come back this time there have been little bursts of form, followed by periods when you can see he has been out for a while.
"He will be fine for the final but I think he needs a break now. Having the summer off will do him the world of good and next season he will come back even better."
A couple of months ago, Ferguson informed Eriksson that he would prefer Brown not to be called up for duty in Portugal. Injuries to Jonathan Woodgate and Gareth Southgate forced the England coach to consider going against the United manager's wishes, but in the end he decided Brown was not quite back to the form that saw him included in the 2002 World Cup squad and has opted to take Ledley King and Jamie Carragher as back-up for John Terry and Sol Campbell.
Ferguson revealed: "Wes wanted to go and if he had been picked, it would have been fine with me but in the end I spoke with Sven and we came to an agreement on how to handle it.
"But it was a difficult one because, with John Terry and Sol Campbell already in the squad, Sven knew that if he took Wes to Portugal the lad could train every day and not play a match when really he should have been having a rest.
"You have to look at priorities and for Wes just now that means getting a break rather than taking part in a tournament."
Brown may find it difficult to find his way into the United side next season, once Rio Ferdinand has returned from his suspension on September 20th. But the home-grown defender has forged an impressive partnership with Mikael Silvestre in recent games and his manager believes he will be a regular fixture at Old Traffod.
"I don't think the task of forcing his way into the team will be a problem for Wes considering what he has already been through," said the Scot. "His challenges over the last few years have been in a different direction to most players but he has faced them all very well.
"For a young lad, his attitude towards recovery has been unbelievable. It could not have been easy but he has done it."
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