Real Madrid are monitoring the development of Manchester United youngster Jonny Evans, and could be set to make a January move for the Northern Ireland international.

The 21-year old has acted as an able deputy to the first-choice duo of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, and is highly regarded by boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

English publication The People reports that Los Blancos coach Manuel Pellegrini is looking to strengthen his central defence following a knee injury suffered by Portuguese defender Pepe, and comments that Evans is high on his list of potential replacements.

It is unlikely however that Ferguson would entertain allowing another of his first-team stars to depart for the Bernabeu, after losing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Beckham in recent seasons.

Pellegrini may be forced to re-assess any move, with Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho also reported to be on the Spanish side’s transfer radar.

Carvalho made his 200th appearance for the London club yesterday, and speaking on their official website stated that he is enjoying life with the Premier League leaders.

Madrid themselves demolished Real Zaragoza 6-0 on Saturday evening, and started the match with the pairing of Ezequiel Garay and Raul Albiol in the centre of defence.


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Football FanCast columnist Jez Howard wonders if Fergie would be wise to throw Gabriel Obertan into the 1st team on a regular basis.

You don’t need a weatherman to tell you when it is raining and you certainly don’t have to be brain of Britain to realise that tomorrow’s newspapers will be full of match reports pointing the finger at yet another United defeat and how once again the club is still suffering from the loss of our once talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.

We are not stupid as supporters and we are fully aware that the Portuguese winker has left a massive hole at the football club and not only have we missed his goals, but also the presence of a player that will put the opposition on the back foot. I think that is half the problem and teams are enjoying the opportunity to attack us and play their own game, without the fear of having to hang back. The likes of Rooney, Berbatov and Valencia are good players, but they don’t possess the same sort of threat that Ronaldo did.

That is the problem in my view and while we all hoped that this season the likes of Nani would step up and go some way to addressing the loss, he hasn’t managed to and although Giggs and Anderson have attempted to fill the slot, it is only Gabriel Obertan who has shown the signs that he is capable of causing problems down the left hand side and provide that bit of trickery and invention out wide to hurt the opposition.

I think Obertan has surprised us all this season and we didn’t expect to see the Frenchman hitting the ground running as smoothly as he actually has, therefore I ask the question as to why Fergie has resisted the temptation to start him regularly, as he certainly provides us with the midfield spark we have been desperately missing? Surely the presence of someone like Obertan who can make something out of nothing is exactly what we need at present, especially against the resolute hardworking teams like the Villa and Fulham’s of this world.

I know Fergie normally gets it right with young players and knows where and when to play them, but I think in Obertan’s case you have an exceptional talent, like the young Ronaldo was, and the way to bring the best out of him is to keep playing him and throwing him in at the deep end. This current United team is desperately craving that player in midfield that can take the game to the opposition and bring creativity and provide decent ammunition for the likes of Messrs Berbatov, Rooney and Owen. If I were Fergie I would put all my eggs in one basket with the Frenchman and see if he becomes they type of talisman that we really need at this juncture.

Should Fergie give Obertan a regular starting berth, or is Fergie right to take the softly approach with his development?

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Sir Alex Ferguson is planning a late Christmas present for Old Trafford fans with a move for £35million rated Karim Benzema in the January transfer window.
Ferguson lost out to Real Madrid in the summer in the chase for Benzema, 22, whose goal exploits for Lyon were always going to propel the France international onto a bigger stage.

But, despite having collected £80m from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, the United manager felt that the £35m asking price for Benzema was too steep.

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Manchester City have sacked Mark Hughes after 18 months in charge and named Roberto Mancini as his successor, with Brian Kidd as assistant.

News of Hughes' departure came via a statement, issued just two hours after the 4-3 home win over Sunderland.

The Welshman had been appointed in June 2008, replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson.

But despite spending heavily on the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott and Carlos Tevez, results have not satisfied City's ambitious owners.