Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has called up Oliver Gill, the son of United chief executive David Gill, to the squad to face VfL Wolfsburg in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday evening.

Last season's beaten finalists will be without eight recognised defenders for the crucial Group B clash at the Volkswagen Arena which will determine whether or not they top the group.

Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, Gary Neville, John O'Shea, Rafael and Fabio are all missing from the squad, leaving Patrice Evra as the only familiar face from United's regular backline.

Surrey-born Gill, 19, has yet to make an appearance for the United first team after signing professional forms with the club in July, though he is an established member of Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer's reserve side, and plays as a centre-back.

Ferguson has also left behind Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Federico Macheda, with youngsters Cameron Stewart, Matty James, Magnus Eikrem and Oliver Norwood all being called up to the squad to travel to Germany to take on the Bundesliga champions.

It is expected that Ferguson will send out a makeshift defence comprising of Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Evra and Park Ji-Sung.