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Sir Alex Ferguson
insists defender Jonny Evans has a
long-term future at Manchester United and has backed the Northern
Ireland international to build a successful long-term partnership
with Chris
Smalling.
Evans started the season
partnering Nemanja
Vidic at centre back in the
absence of the injured Rio
Ferdinand, but was linked with
a loan move away from Old Trafford in the January transfer
window.
He has made just one league start since September, with Smalling
handed the responsibility of deputising for Ferdinand following
another injury setback to the England skipper.
But despite rumours that Evans had fallen out of favour with
Ferguson, the United boss is convinced that Smalling and Evans are
the future of the team and can build a partnership to succeed
Ferdinand and Vidic at the heart of the United defence.
"They're young, but Evans for example has already played a lot
of games for us," Ferguson told the club's official website. "He
played almost three quarters of the matches last season. He is well
grounded in terms of what's needed here. His time will come.
"One of the first things I said to Martin Edwards when I first
came to United was, 'you don't have very good partnerships at the
centre of defence', and the goalkeeping situation was never a
regular thing either.
"When we got [Peter] Schmeichel, [Steve] Bruce and [Gary]
Pallister it was an incredible turnaround in consistency. The
knowledge they gathered together, particularly with Bruce and
Pallister, gave them that understanding. And they seldom missed
games. That's something you build over time.
"That just shows that partnerships are vitally important. We've
seen that with Nemanja and Rio, and hopefully Jonny and Chris can
develop that too."