Wilfried Zaha could belatedly make his competitive Manchester United debut for the Capital One Cup visit of Norwich City tonight.
Zaha, 20, has not featured for United since he made his debut in the Community Shield win over Wigan nearly three months ago.
Rumours of an affair with United manager David Moyes' daughter arose in the last month have blighted Zaha's short time at United despite an auspicious pre-season.
Zaha started for United in the Community Shield win over Wigan
"I just don't think we have had the right opportunity to get him on as much as would have liked," Moyes told the United website.
"We don't want to put him in too quickly. We want to make it the right time.
"I've said I would look at (a loan) in January as I wanted to have him here for six months to see how we work. I told him we would try to get him minutes but the competition in the wide areas we have with Nani, Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Adnan Januzaj and even Shinji Kagawa playing off the side means we are as strong there as anywhere."
Although United have a plethora of options on the flanks, it is arguably a case of quantity over quality. Januzaj's emergence highlights the poor form of Valencia, Young and Nani, who was booed off against Stoke on Saturday.
Zaha has often not even been listed in the matchday squads and the likelihood is he will be granted a loan move in January irrespective of United's woeful wingers.
Darren Fletcher played 67 minutes in United's Under-21s' 2-2 draw with Fulham on Monday night as he continues his comeback from illness.
Fletcher has trained with United's first team already this season
The 29-year-old Scotland international has played just 13 games since announcing he was taking an extended break from football in November 2011 after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
He has since undergone several operations - the last of which took place in January - and been put on a strict dietary regime in a bid to correct his stomach condition and allow him to resume playing duties.
"I've been training for a few weeks now and the next progression is to get some match time. I enjoyed it," Fletcher told MUTV.
"The plan was to get to half-time and see how I felt. Then get to 60 minutes and take it from there and, although I felt I could have gone on a bit longer, the plan was not to play more than that so I'm better sticking to the plan and not upsetting the sports science lads."