Manchester United defender Phil Jones is on the verge of signing a new long-term contract at Old Trafford and committing his future to the club for several years to come. According to a report by the Daily Mail, Jones will put pen to paper on a similar deal to the one that team-mate Chris Smalling signed earlier this year. Smalling's contract runs until 2019 and is worth around £80,000 per week. Jones has just 12 months left on his current contract and failure to agree a renewal could have seen him put up for sale this summer. Instead he has the chance to stake his claim for a regular place in the back four. The 23-year-old was heralded as the future of English football when he broke into the Blackburn Rovers first-team as a teenager in 2009. He's continued to show plenty of promise since making the £16.5 million switch to United in 2011, although fans have also been concerned about a worrying lack of consistency to his game. But, despite any misgivings, United clearly feel that Jones has the ability to remain at the club and be an important part of the squad. Jones' new contract does however throw further doubt on the future of the more senior Jonny Evans. The Northern Ireland international similarly has just a single year left on his contract and has been linked with a move to Everton recently. A new centre-back, whether that be Sergio Ramos, Nicolas Otamendi or someone else, is also still a priority in the transfer market this summer, suggesting that Evans will soon be sold now that Jones is staying.
Talk Manchester United and Manchester City for What Culture. I can also be found on 90min.com, with occasional musings on Huffington Post and elsewhere.
