Former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has backed Darren Fletcher to make a complete recovery from his health problems.

The 29-year-old Red Devils midfielder has not played for the reigning Premier League champions for over a year due to serious ulcerative colitis, but did feature in the club's reserve side against Stoke City earlier this month.

"It's fantastic news that Darren is on his way back," the Belfast Telegraph quotes the Norwegian as saying. "I was over in Manchester about a month ago and I was lucky enough to bump into Fletch and he said he was on the road to recovery.

"I just met him purely by chance outside the supermarket and it was great to see him. I could see just from talking to him that his tail was really up because he's had a rough time of it obviously."

Solskjaer has also hailed Fletcher's mental strength to cope with all his problems.

"To be honest I do know how hard it must be for him because I had a spell out for two and a half to three years myself after a bad knee injury," he added.

"There's nothing worse than that feeling of not really knowing whether you're going to be able to make a comeback but luckily now it looks like it's going to happen and I couldn't be happier for him.

"He's a humble guy from a humble family - he possesses all the attributes to be a Manchester United player. I've heard the accusation that he was an average player in a great team but I don't agree with that at all."

Solskjaer is currently managing Molde.