Yesterday Michael Carrick signed a new contract with Manchester United, today it's Darren
Fletcher's turn to sign a new deal with the club.

Man United have confirmed that the midfielder has signed a new four-year deal, which will keep the Scottish international at Old Trafford until 2015.

Fletcher has come through Man United's academy, he made his first team debut on the 1st March 2003 against FC Basel in the Champions League, the game finished as a 1-1 draw. Since then Fletcher has gone on to make 288 appearances, scoring 21 goals.

Fletcher told ManUtd.com: “I take great pride in playing for Manchester United, I have won many trophies in my years playing here and I am looking forward to winning many more in the seasons to come. I would like to thank everyone at the club.”

Manchester United is set to reward unsung star Darren Fletcher with a new contract worth £80,0000 a week. Fletcher has been one of United’s main men over the past few seasons, with many believing that if we had him available in last season’s Champions League final against Barcelona, there might have been a different outcome.

Fletcher is currently being paid £3 million a year but now he is seen as one of the most important United players, that wage will now increase.

The new contract will see the Scotland captain paid around the same amount as players such as Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes.

It is believed that this contract is now one of United’s top priorities to get sorted out, it is not thought that there will be any problems getting Fletcher to sign this new contract, unlike Jonny Evans.

Not only is the News of the World reporting that Fletcher is inline for a new contract, they believe that Evans is stalling on a new deal.

It is believed that Evans will not sign the contract unless he gets paid £60,000 a week, right now he has only been offered £40,000 a week. Evans has been linked with a move away but it is thought that he doesn’t want to leave Old Trafford, he just thinks that he deserves to be paid more.

Man United midfielder Darren Fletcher has warned United's other Premier League title rivals that we will be just as dangerous without Cristiano Ronaldo. Over the past two seasons Ronaldo scored 67 goals in all competitions but Fletcher believes that we can cope without him.

"Cristiano is a great player, an unbelievable player, and he was a major part of our success when he was with us," said Fletcher.

"But it's a team game as well and a lot goes into a winning team. We still have the nucleus of that, but we've also added players like Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia.

"They've both looked really good. Michael has scored a few goals and Antonio’s performance against Valencia was fantastic. So we feel like we've added a bit of quality as well.

"We've always been tight and we have a great defensive record to back that up, but maybe we've been a little bit too expansive in recent seasons.

"But the Manchester United ethos is all about attacking football and that's what the fans expect.

"You can't be wide open all the time, though. You have to be disciplined and I think you'll see a more rigid 4-4-2 formation this season, with the ability to go 4-3-3 when needed."

Fletcher also spoke about the Champion's League final which he unfortunately couldn't play in due to wrongly being sent off in the semi-final second leg against Arsenal.

"People talk about Rome and the fact I couldn't play because of suspension, but sometimes you become a better player in some people's eyes when you don't play," he said.

"It's easy to sit in the stand and not and play, though. I would much rather have been out there on the pitch against Barcelona.

"But I've heard it quite a lot, people saying you actually get noticed more when you don't play. That was just one of those cases.

"It was nice to hear that over the summer, that I might have made a difference.

"I was desperate to play in the final, but you have to give credit to Barcelona because they put in a fantastic performance. We were beaten by the better team.

"But I feel as though I'm right in there now, fighting for my place in the starting line-up.

"I know I can't take anything for granted because you only have to look at the quality of the players who can come in.

"But I feel as though last season was a big step for me. There are some great midfielders at the club, but I managed to start the season and stay in the team for the majority of it.

"My performances improved because the continuity that comes with playing most weeks."

Much has been made about Ronaldo leaving and the goals we need scoring but I honestly don't know and I don't think anyone does. We will have to see how we get on throughout the season but we have to trust the boss and be positive. We haven't done too bad through pre-season.

Man United and Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher was asked by Scotland manager George Burley not to play in the Community Shield match. Fletcher did play and he is also saying that he didn’t choose Man United over Scotland.

Burley reportedly told his Scotland squad to focus on the World Cup Qualifiers and not the pre-season friendlies. Fletcher believes that if he said no to playing in the Community Shield game then it would put him down the pecking order at Old Trafford.

"The Scotland manager obviously asked me about not playing but I want to play as many games as I can," Fletcher told the Daily Record.

"I've got to try to win a place in the United team and there is a lot of competition around the squad."

"I don't want to be skipping United games but I was always going to be available for Scotland," he added.

"That was always going to be the case.

"There was never any doubt. But I've also always got to concentrate on my club career and they [international and club career] both go hand in hand."

I don’t think players should be put in that position, I know that playing for your club is important and so is playing for your country. If Fletcher wants to carry on playing for Scotland then he needs first team football, if he wants first team football then he has to play matches for United.

Manchester United's midfielder Darren Fletcher will miss the Champion's League final this Wednesday due to suspension, but he believes that Man United are ready to take on Barcelona.

Fletcher was wrongly sent off against Arsenal and what was even more wrong about his situation is that UEFA couldn't/wouldn't overturn his red card. There is nothing Fletcher can do on Wednesday he will have to do what the fans do- sit back and watch.

Fletcher believes that the squad can now go on and win the Champion's League for the second time in two years.

"I think it's good to be going into the Champions League final with a bit of rest, it's been a long season.
"It would have been difficult if we'd been trying to win the league here, we knew it would be a tough, physical match.
"With two days' rest, to go and play Barcelona in the final would have been difficult, but fortunately we won the league early, with a game to spare.
"The lads have rested up and hopefully they'll be ready to go against Barcelona."
"I will travel, I'll travel as a fan. I'll be like all the rest of the United fans, cheering the lads on, hoping we win the trophy.
"Two great attacking teams known for their qualities of attacking, probably two of the best sides in Europe this season, both winning their domestic leagues.
"It sets it up nicely for what should be a fantastic final but we'll take any sort of victory."

Fletcher also spoke about Man United's 1-0 victory over Hull yesterday in the final day of this seasons Premier League.

"There are a lot of young players here with a lot to prove and they don't get many chances.
"It was a great Manchester United squad and whenever they do get the chance it is important they go out and take it.
"I thought most of them did that, it was a good result."

Paul Scholes was not available for Manchester United's 1999 Champion's League final match after being sent off after a two footed challenge on Didier Deschamps. Darren Fletcher will be unavailable for Manchester United's 2009 Champion's League final match against Barcelona next Wednesday after he was wrongly sent off against Arsenal.

Scholes has said that there are no words of comfort that will make Fletcher feel any better about missing the final.

"Darren has not spoken to me [about missing the final]," Scholes said "It is just something you have to live with.

"We are all devastated for the lad and devastated he is not going to be in the team.

"The way he has played over the last few weeks has been amazing and more than anything, he will be a big loss for the team."

This Sunday is the final match of this season's Premier League and many are tipping Sir Alex Ferguson to hand the captaincy to Fletcher. Fletcher has done an awful lot for the team this season and he should be playing in the final. There is nothing that we can do now but lets hope that the boys can go out and win it for him.

BREAKING NEWS: Darren Fletcher will MISS the Champion's League final against Barcelona on the 27th May.

Eric Abidal and Daniel Alves will also be suspended for Barcelona.

Darren Fletcher was shown a red card during Manchester United's semi-final second leg win over Arsenal. Replays showed that he made a fantastic tackle and shouldn't have been sent off.

Both Abidal and Fletcher should be allowed to play in the final because they were both shown red cards and they both shouldn't have been red cards.

UEFA need to sort the rule out that a red card can only be overturned if the ref shows the red card to the wrong player.

I am gutted for Fletcher, he should be able to play but unfortunately he can't and it isn't his fault.

Manchester United have been told by UEFA that the red card which was undeservedly shown to Man United midfielder Darren Fletcher last night stands and he will not be able to play in the UEFA Champion's League final on the 27th May 2009.

It was only the referee (and some Arsenal fans) who thought that Fletcher didn't get the ball in the penalty area last night which led to Fletcher being shown a red card. Manchester United are gutted and Arsenal manager has said that the red card was "very harsh" but it stands.

UEFA head of communications Rob Faulkner has revealed that the only way in which Fletcher's dismissal would be overturned is if the official had sent off the wrong person.
"Manchester United have the right to file a protest within 24 hours of the match," Faulkner is quoted as saying by SkySportsNews.
"However a protest against a caution or sending off is only admissible if the referee's error was to mistake the identity of the player."

I am gutted for Fletcher, he has been a massive part of Man United's Champion's League campaign and the thought of him missing it because of a refereeing mistake is devastating. There is nothing that we can do apart from go out in Rome and win the match for him.

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Yesterday there were many international matches which involved many Manchester United players, but how did they get on?

Wayne Rooney
Rooney had a great match for England, he linked up well with Gerrard and he deservedly scored two goals.

Ben Foster
David James was in goal for England during the first half, Foster played the second half in goal and he didn't really have that much to do.

Michael Carrick
Carrick came on in the second half to replace Peter Crouch who was injured, we didn't see that much of Carrick either.

Rio Ferdinand
Ferdinand didn't play any part of England's match, he has had another back problem but he expected to be OK for England's match against Ukraine on Wednesday.

Jonny Evans
Evans also had a good game, he scored for Northern Ireland which put NI 2-1 up against Poland, the won the match 3-2.

Darren Fletcher
Fletcher didn't have a good night, Scotland were beaten 3-0 in the Netherlands.

John O'Shea
O'Shea played for the Republic Of Ireland and set up the first goal, Bulgaria were without Berbatov but they managed to get a 1-1 draw in Dublin.

Patrice Evra
Evra played the whole match for France who beat Lithuania 1-0.

Carlos Tevez
Tevez started the match for Argentina against Venezuela and he scored their second goal, he was substituted but it is thought that he doesn't have an injury. The last thing we need is Tevez injured.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo played for Portugal and he also captained the side, Portugal unexpectedly drew 0-0 at home with Sweden. Former United assistant Carlos Queiroz (now Portugal manager) still doesn't have a win.

Luis Nani
Nani was an unused substitute in Portugal's 0-0 draw.

Ji-sung Park
Ji-sung Park played in South Korea's 2-1 win over Iraq so it was a good night for him aswell.

It was a mixture of results for the Man United players, lets just hope that none of them are injured during the week and come back from International duty ready to play Aston Villa next Sunday.

If you were to pick three Manchester United players who you think would be best friends, who would you pick? I would probably say that Nani, Ronaldo and Anderson would be best mates.

To the bemusement of the United players- Ji-Sung Park (South Korean), Carlos Tevez (Argentinian) and Patrice Evra (French) have become best mates.

Darren Fletcher says: "What language do they speak? They walk around together, they banter with each other. I don't know how it works."

Personally, I think it's great.


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More information has come out of what really happened when a gang broke into Darren Fletcher's mansion hours after he travelled out to Italy.

Here is what we know so far:

• Two women were threatened in the house- Fletcher's fiancee and her mother


• Fletcher's young children were asleep in the house but not disturbed


• The gang held a knife to his fiancees throat and took her £30,000 engagement ring


• She was told to hand it over or they will cut her throat


• Manchester United chiefs have now put two security guards at the houses of each of the Manchester United players in the Champion's League squad.

Manchester’s ex-Deputy Chief Constable has said that they will use extreme violence and he is worried that a WAG could be killed.

This is awful and I hope that the police find them soon because we could end up with a tragic death.

Last night Darren Fletcher became the latest in Premier League football stars to have his house burgled.
At around 9pm whilst Fletcher was preparing for today's football match between Inter Milan in Italy, a gang broke into his house, threatened a woman (Hayley Grice- Fletcher's Girlfriend) then raided rooms and snatched valuable items.

Hayley was in the house, it is not yet known whether their twin boys were there or if she was threatened with by weapons.

*UPDATE* Two women were in the house and so were Darren's and Hayley's young boys.

This has happened to quite a few Premier League players recently but he is the first known Man United player to have been affected.

Other players who have been burgled are:
Steven Gerrard
Ashley Young
Dirk Kuyt
Pepe Reina
Peter Crouch
Daniel Agger
Robbie Keane


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With no Premier League matches this weekend due to International World Cup Qualifiers, some Manchester United players were playing for their countries, here is how they got on.

I will start off with my country, England. Two Manchester United players got onto the scoresheet. Captain Rio Ferdinand scored the first of five England goals against Kazakhstan. That was followed by an own goal for Kazakhstan and then two goals from Wayne Rooney, the final goal came from Jermain Defoe.
Wes Brown was also playing and he looked comfortable throughout the match, and I mayb'e be wrong but he spent most of his time in the oppostitions half providing space for Theo Walcott.

Darren Fletcher was captain for Scotland and their match against Norway finished 0-0. The main point of this match was the awful miss by Wolves striker Chris Iwelumo which has now been dubbed as 'the worst miss by a Scotland player in living memory". Poor bloke!

Two Manchester United players played in Portugal's 0-0 draw away to Sweden. The two players were Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Patrice Evra was with France and they finished in a 2-2 draw after falling behind 2-0 to Romania.

Nemanja Vidic was playing for Serbia who beat Lithuania 3-0.

Jonny Evan's played for Northern Ireland after flying out later after recovering after an illness. Northern Ireland lost 2-0.

Carlos Tevez was in action for Argentina and they won 2-1 against Uruguay in a feisty match.

Manucho was in the Angola squad but he didn't play in the match, Anderson was a substitute for Brazil who were 4-0 winners against Venezuela.

We had another captain, Park was captain for South Korea who won 3-1 against Uzbekistan, this match was a friendly.

As you probably no, Manchester United aren't in action this weekend with internationals being played. There were a few United players in action last night for their countries and this is how they got on.

Carlos Tevez- Tevez managed to get himself sent off after only half an hour, he was given a straight red even though he was already on a yellow card. Argentina were already a goal down against Paraguay at this point (former United defender Gabriel Henize scored an own goal) but the match finished as a draw.

Wayne Rooney- Rooney was the only English Man United player to play tonight, Wes Brown was on the bench and Rio Ferdinand was ruled out of the Andorra match due to a stiff back. The good news is that England won, 2-0 but the bad news is that Rooney didnt score, if only he can get one goal and then I think he will gain confidence and score loads.

John O'Shea- O'Shea played 90 minutes for the Republic Of Ireland, who beat Georgia 2-1 in Germany, I watched the match and O'Shea did ok, he did have a fantastic chance to score though but his header was over the bar.

Darren Fletcher- Fletcher played for 90 minutes for Scotland but unfortuntly they were beaten 1-0 by Macedonia.

Jonny Evans- Evans played 90 minutes for Northern Ireland but they also lost, the final score was 2-1 in Slovakia.

Patrice Evra- Evra played in the biggest shock defeat of the night, France lost 3-1 to Austria.

Dimitar Berbatov- New United player Berbatov was nearly on the loosing end but Bulgaria got a last minute equaliser against Montenegro.

Luis Nani- Nani had a fairly easy night, Portugal beat Malta 4-0 with Nani getting the final goal. It was also former Manchester United assistant Carlos Quieiroz' first competitive match as Portugal manager.

Nemanja Vidic- Vidic and Serbia were off to a winning start with a 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands.