In The Money
Times: Manchester United are preparing to offer new contracts to at least six senior players as Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, seeks to retain a strong supporting cast around the big names who form the nucleus of his team.
United have already held preliminary discussions over new deals to extend the careers of Edwin van der Sar, the goalkeeper, who is undecided about his future, and Ryan Giggs for another year, but they are also discussing new deals for Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, John O’Shea and Ben Foster, the 24-year-old goalkeeper, who has yet to make his debut for the club.
In the cases of Evra and Vidic, the new contracts are designed to reward them for the progress they have made since joining the club in January 2006, with their basic wage due to climb to approximately £55,000 a week. Negotiations with Vidic may be accelerated by the head injury that will keep him out of Serbia’s European Championship qualifying matches against Armenia and Azerbaijan, but talks with Federico Pastorello, Evra’s agent, are another priority as he was offered only a 3½year contract when he joined United from AS Monaco.
Brown is another top priority with less than eight months remaining on his contract, although both Ferguson and David Gill, the chief executive, are confident that he will sign a new deal. A similar thought process applies to Van der Sar and Giggs, whose contracts also expire at the end of this season.
Van der Sar, who will be 37 this month, is expected to stay with United if he decides to continue playing next season, while Giggs, who will be 34 next month, is firmly expected to accept any opportunity to stay at Old Trafford.
Ferguson is also preoccupied with the task of farming out some of United’s younger players following the club’s elimination from the Carling Cup.
Lee Martin, the winger, joined Plymouth Argyle on a three-month loan last week and Darron Gibson, the Ireland midfield player, is expected to join Wolverhampton Wanderers on a similar basis.
It is not yet clear whether Dong Fangzhuo, the China forward, will be among the loanees as the club ponder ways to advance his education.
