Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Chris Smalling will be out of contention for the 2012 Euros, with theManchester United defender suffering from a groin injury. 

Smalling contracted the injury during the Red Devils' match-up with Swansea, but still finished the game, and will now miss out on the side's all important tie against Sunderland on Sunday.

And Ferguson believes that it will take more than a month for the 22 year old to recover and get back on the pitch for both United and England.

"Chris Smalling got a bad injury last week," Ferguson told the official Manchester Unted website. "We tried to take him off, then Rio got a knock.

"He's going to miss the European Championship. At the moment we're assessing what we'll do, but certainly it's a bad injury. I can play Phil Jones back in there with Rio, who is okay."

The loss of Smalling will come as a blow to United, who are on the cusp of stealing the title from Manchester City, if the Citizens slip up on Sunday.