Ajax Cape Town 1 - 1 Manchester United: Smalling out for ten weeks as Bebe spares United's blushes - Top Football Stories - Scotsman.com CHRIS Smalling was ruled out for ten weeks with a broken metatarsal before Manchester United needed a last-minute Bebe goal to avoid a shock defeat to local Ajax side in Cape Town. Smalling, who remained in Manchester as his team-mates embarked on their tour of South Africa and China, in order to reach full fitness after an end-of-season groin injury, suffered the fresh problem in training on Wednesday. It was immediately decided to send the 22-year-old for surgery, which will keep him out until the end of September. "He got an injury on the Wednesday and, straight away, we decided to have the operation, so he is out," Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV, ahead of yesterday afternoon's game. It's difficult to say with a metatarsal but it could be ten weeks. He's not carrying any luck, the kid, but he's young and we have done the right thing in getting it done immediately and getting him back on the road as quickly as we can. The news momentarily took the minds of United supporters off Ferguson's surprising revelation on Friday that he had made a bid for Robin van Persie. After yesterday, though, perhaps it is more understandable after United failed to exert any significant pressure until the much-maligned Bebe fashioned a response to Alcardo van Graan's smartly-taken goal four minutes from time. It does seem there is a chance the Van Persie deal might go through, even if the respective clubs are miles apart on valuation. Shinji Kagawa, the £17 million Japanese internationalist, eased his way through a first start where he looked good in parts but gave the impression he will need to bulk up for Premier League duty. Fellow new-boy Nick Powell was given 25 minutes to impress in central midfield. It was the introduction of United's record signing Dimitar Berbatov that really livened the 50,000 crowd up, though Van Graan threatened to emerge the hero for the South Africans until Bebe, pictured, struck at the far post.