Manchester United extend Valencia contract by one year

Manchester United have confirmed a clause has been triggered to extend Antonio Valencia’s contract by one year, keeping the experienced Ecuadorian at Old Trafford until at least June 2018.

Valencia has made 271 appearances, scored 21 goals and won six trophies since joining from Wigan Athletic in 2009. He also claimed a hat-trick of individual awards in the 2011/12 season when voted the Fans’ and Players’ Player of the Year, while also winning the club’s Goal of the Season prize.

The 31-year-old has become a vital member of Jose Mourinho’s team by starting 23 matches in all competitions this campaign, enhancing his reputation as one of the finest right-backs around. In recognition of his top form, he was even voted United’s Player of the Month for November by the fans.

Valencia is currently in his eighth season as a Red and this one-year contract extension will take him to the end of the 2017/18 campaign. Using his official Twitter account, Antonio posted: "Another year to give everything for the greatest club in the world @ManUtd. Happy to announce I’ve renew my contract 'til 2018."

Everton agree £24m deal for Man United outcast Schneiderlin

Manchester United have agreed a £24million fee to sell midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton.

The 27-year-old moved to Old Trafford from Southampton in a deal worth around £25million in July 2015 but has struggled to make an impact since manager Jose Mourinho’s arrival last summer.

Schneiderlin now looks set join former Saints boss Ronald Koeman at Goodison Park, with realistic add-ons understood to have been built in that could take the transfer figure to £24million.

The move is set to bring an end to a difficult spell in Manchester for the France international, who has struggled for game time since Mourinho’s appointment.

He is yet to start a match in the league this season, having been named in the first XI 25 times by Louis van Gaal last campaign, and has made just eight appearances in all with Mourinho admitting last week that he no longer considered the midfielder for selection.

Commenting on the futures of Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay, who has also been linked with a move to Goodison, the Portuguese manager said: “Their situation is exactly the same, both of them I will allow to leave the club.

“I will allow them to leave if the right offer comes. Until this moment, no. Is this a good situation? No. Why not? Because I don’t think about them as options in this moment.”

Mourinho: We need help from Man Utd fans to beat Liverpool

Following the 2-0 EFL Cup semi-final first-leg win over Hull at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, Jose Mourinho has urged Manchester United fans to ‘raise the roof’ in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford.

United boss Mourinho also insisted there was a need for improvement from himself and his players too as he urged supporters not to “come to the theatre” on Sunday but “come to play with us”.

After second-half goals from Juan Mata and substitute Marouane Fellaini steered his side to victory against the Tigers on Tuesday, Mourinho expressed his concerns, saying: “Maybe I didn’t do my job well to prepare the players for the game.

“But the players have to improve and I have to improve, and I am sorry to say I think the fans have also to improve for a big match on Sunday.

“Our performances (for the Hull match) were enough to win but for Sunday, we all have to improve.”

He added: “I always think that we are responsible for the fans’ participation in the game.

“If we play very, very well, very enthusiastic, they come to the pitch and play with us. When we didn’t play so well, with so much emotion and intensity, it is normal that they relax a little bit.

“We have absolutely amazing fans.

“What I feel is that Sunday is a special match for us, a special match for the Manchester United fans – so my invitation is don’t come to the theatre, come to play, play with us.”

Mourinho said his team “played slow”, “complicated things” and “always had one more touch, one more second to delay the decision”, although he did admit that in terms of this having been a ninth straight win in all competitions for United, he “cannot ask more” of his players.

And he said: “In spite of a match against Reading (Saturday’s 4-0 FA Cup win) where we could rest some players, it is an accumulation of matches in this period.

“So only after Liverpool we are going to have a little space until we play Stoke away.

“But now we need one last effort. Let’s recover and focus on Sunday.”

Tottenham won't play Jose Mourinho's mind games - Jan Vertonghen

Jose Mourinho is renowned for playing mind game ahead of big matches.

Tottenham will not be drawn into any mind games with "colourful character" Jose Mourinho ahead of Sunday's match at Old Trafford, according to Jan Vertonghen.

A win would put Tottenham nine points clear of United and further damage Mourinho's hopes of the title, or even a top-four finish, in his first season in Manchester.

The outspoken Portuguese is renowned for playing mind games before big matches, and he has previous described Vertonghen as "a disgrace" and "a cheat" after the Belgian clashed with Chelsea's Fernando Torres in 2013, when Mourinho managed the Blues.

The Spurs defender, who is expected to start alongside his international teammate Toby Alderweireld for the first time in two months, shrugged off suggestions Mourinho could have an effect on Spurs.

"He is a good manager ... he says things in the media but it doesn't really affect us. It's part of the job and he plays it the way he wants to," Vertonghen said.

"He is a great coach first of all, done great things with different teams. He has shown he is a very good coach and a colourful character, but football needs that."

Asked if he would play for Mourinho, Vertonghen said: "He's not my manager so I'm not going to talk about this."

Vertonghen thought he had scored his first goal for Spurs at Old Trafford in a remarkable 3-2 win in September 2013 -- Spurs' first victory at United in 23 years.

But the effort went down as Jonny Evans' own goal after taking a deflection off the defender on the way in, something Vertonghen has not forgotten.

"They took it off me in the end!" he laughed. "But still I celebrated it as my goal."

Sir Alex Ferguson: I only used 'hairdryer' six times at Man United

Sir Alex Ferguson says he did not rule by fear at Manchester United, claiming he only used his infamous "hairdryer" treatment six times in his 27 years at Old Trafford.

Ferguson oversaw an unrivalled period of domination at United in which he led the club to 38 trophies, including two Champions League titles, before finally calling time on his reign in 2013.

The 74-year-old had a reputation for delivering verbal volleys at his players so intense it earned the nickname "the hairdryer," with Wayne Rooney saying in his book that there was "nothing worse" than experiencing it.

However, Ferguson was quoted in The Sun as saying at the World Business Forum in Milan: "There was a lot of myth about it. It happened about half a dozen times in 27 years and the players will tell you that.

"The problem for me was if a player answered me back, I headed towards them. That was my problem.

"[Former Celtic and Scotland boss] Jock Stein always said to me, 'Leave it until Monday to talk to them,' but I said I couldn't wait until Monday. So, on a Saturday after the game, I told them exactly how I felt, because we had trained at a level all week that I expected to win every game.

"I told them exactly the truth and the truth works. All the players understood that and it was never held against me. Then the next day it is pushed aside and I'm prepared to win again. I never ruled by fear.

"Name a Manchester United team that played with fear. My job was to get a positive attitude into that team, for them to express themselves, never give in and enjoy playing for the club. That is sacrosanct."

Scotland boss Gordon Strachan, who played for Ferguson at Aberdeen from 1978 to 1984 and at United from 1986 to 1989, said this week: "I regularly got the hairdryer treatment. You had to see it to believe it but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

"He used to wear black shoes, always shiny, and these shoes would come in and shuffle about, looking for someone. Then these shoes stopped and pointed at me: 'Oh no, here goes.'

"It was horrendous. He comes up to you that close your noses touch."

Former United midfielder Shinji Kagawa, meanwhile, said last year that he was shocked by the "hairdryer" and added: "It really was like a hairdryer, as it is called. He shouted really hard with his face really red, especially at the core players.

"The fact that he can shout at leading players such as Rooney, [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes, Rio [Ferdinand] shows his presence."