Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Northern Ireland defender Jonny Evans has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United.

After spending a couple of spells on loan at Sunderland, Evans has made huge progress in the last two seasons.

Evans has made 64 first-team appearances for United and has shown himself good enough to stand in for injury-prone Rio Ferdinand.

"Jonny has proved himself," Ferguson told MUTV.

"We have been working on it for a few months now and I am happy that he has signed it", said Ferguson of the new contract.

"Jonny Evans has played a lot of football this year. For a centre-half at 22 years of age to play so many games and show the quality he has, is tremendous."

The Belfast-born player, who has won 20 international caps, is being tipped as a future club captain at Old Trafford.

Ferguson let slip at Tuesday's player-of-the-year awards that Evans had agreed a new deal, which was confirmed on Friday.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Ben Foster expects to leave Manchester United in the summer in search of a first-team place.

"You never want to leave Manchester United," Foster told the Manchester Evening News. "If you leave this club you are only ever going to go down but I want to be playing football.

"I am not interested in just hanging around and I would go if the club wanted to sell me. If they are happy to accept a bid then you have to read between the lines and realise you are not really needed and move on. It would not be the end of the world for me."

Foster, 27, has also given up any hopes of making the England squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa this summer.

"I don't think there is any chance now," he said. "If he [England boss Fabio Capello] were to pick me it would be very unfair on some of the other goalkeepers."

David Weir has become the oldest ever winner of the Scottish Football Writers Association Player of the Year award.

The Rangers captain, who will be 40 on Monday, picks up the prize on Sunday, after taking the Clydesdale Bank Premier League player of the year.

Weir is out of contract in the summer but is hoping to stay on at Ibrox.

"I'm keen to play on and enjoy it," explained the central defender. "But it would have to be right for me and not just for the sake of it."

Weir arrived at Rangers on a six-month deal from Everton in January 2007 and has missed only three Scottish Premier League matches since, helping the Ibrox side to six major trophies and a Uefa Cup final.

However, he remains at a loss as to where his future lies, due to the precarious financial situation at the Glasgow club.

"Until something is put in front of me, I can't give a definitive answer," said Weir.

"I genuinely don't know what will happen in terms of staying at Rangers.

"The manager has been asked the same question about his own future and I don't think we are in a position to answer.

"No-one knows how the land lies at the club or how it will lie. It's a case of wait and see.

"There are six players out of contract, including me, along with the coaching staff. It's a strange circumstance, but that's the way it is.

"I would imagine it might be quite late in the summer before a decision is made about me."

Weir was quick to point out that his personal achievements at Ibrox are only a small part of the overall success of Walter Smith's side, especially given the uncertainty over the contracts of the manager and several first team players.

"It has exceeded expectations, without a shadow of a doubt," said Weir.

"I don't really think about winning the league on a personal level, but I am looking forward to Sunday and the trophy presentation. It is a massive achievement. Retaining the trophy was huge for us. We won it last year after chasing Celtic all the time.

"I'm proud of this, because good Rangers teams in the past haven't won championships. Hopefully, this means the current crop will be remembered as a good team."

"I just came to Rangers for a few months, to try and help stabilise the club. The target back then was just to make sure we finished second in the SPL.

"By Rangers' standards, what we were aiming for was not high.

"You can't underestimate the achievements here over the last three years and how the manager has turned the club around during difficult times."

Manchester City and England star Gareth Barry is awaiting a specialist's verdict on his injured right ankle amid concerns over his World Cup chances.

Barry met the specialist on Thursday evening and will find out the full diagnosis later on Friday.

The 29-year-old midfielder suffered the injury falling over a team-mate in the second half of the 1-0 Premier League defeat by Tottenham on Wednesday.

England boss Fabio Capello names his provisional 30-man squad on Tuesday.

Capello will then cut his selection down to 23 players after friendlies against Mexico and Japan, with England starting their campaign in South Africa against the United States on 12 June.

Barry, who has won 36 caps, has become an established part of Capello's midfield and played in eight of England's qualifying games.

The midfielder has definitely been ruled out of City's final game of the season against West Ham on Sunday.

Barry has made 43 starts for City this season, scoring three goals as City qualified for the Europa League.

He joined City from Aston Villa in June 2009 for £12m, citing Villa's failure to qualify for the Champions League as one of his reasons for leaving.

Gareth Bale has been rewarded for helping Tottenham qualify for the Champions League by being given a new four-year contract with the club.

The 20-year-old signed a new deal which ties him to White Hart Lane until 2014.

Bale was named Premier League player of the month in April after his form on the left wing inspired Spurs to victories over Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Welshman has featured 75 times for Spurs since joining from Southampton for £10m in May 2007.

Spurs clinched their top-four place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win at Manchester City on Wednesday and have moved quickly to reward the supporter's young player of the year.

After a stunning run of form by Bale, which included winning goals against Arsenal and Chelsea, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp insisted the club would not sell the former Saints man, despite reports linking him with a move to Manchester United.

A highly-rated youngster, Bale joined Spurs as a left-back at 17 years old but he had been on the fringes of the first team due to a succession of injuries - including a broken foot and a knee problem.

However, an injury to Redknapp's preferred left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto gave Bale the opportunity to impress, and the Spurs boss rewarded his performances by handing him a more advanced attacking role on the left once Assou-Ekotto returned to fitness.

Bale made his Wales debut aged 16 years and 315 days against Trinidad and Tobago in May 2006 and has won 24 caps, scoring two goals.

The World Cup trophy is starting a month-long tour of South Africa before the start of the tournament on 11 June.

Thousands of people will get the opportunity to have their photo taken with the solid gold trophy as it travels to 33 towns in South Africa.

However, protocol dictates that only heads of state and tournament winners are allowed to actually touch it.

On its arrival, the trophy was taken by Fifa head Jerome Valcke to Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg.

Mr Valcke said Mr Mandela was one of the architects of the 2010 World Cup and there was no question the trophy would arrive in South Africa and not be brought to him first.

The trophy has been on a 130,000km (81,000 mile) tour of 86 countries in the past year and begins the final South African leg in Khaletshuya township near Cape Town.

It will end up in Soweto for the first game of the tournament between the hosts and Mexico.

South Africa will be the first ever African nation to host the World Cup.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Cape Town says the respect the World Cup trophy enjoys today is very different from 44 years ago when it was stolen from an exhibition in London.

A week later it was found wrapped in newspaper under a bush by a dog named Pickles.

Liverpool have had the first in what they hope will be a series of meetings with manager Rafael Benitez amid speculation he could move to Juventus.

Benitez, 50, had reportedly cancelled two meetings with chairman Martin Broughton before they met on Thursday.

"The meeting was constructive," said a Liverpool spokesman.

"Views were exchanged on issues of concern to both the board and manager which were either addressed or to be picked up in forthcoming meetings."

Benitez, who has four years left on the contract he signed last summer, has endured a tough season on and off the pitch.

In November he said he was sure of guiding Liverpool to a top-four finish in the Premier League, but last Sunday's 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea ended the chance of that happening.

As a result, Liverpool will be without Champions League football next season - the first time since 2002/03.

The Reds made an early exit from both the Champions League and FA Cup, and their last chance for silverware ended when they lost to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final last week.

As well as their on-field struggles, Liverpool's season has been overshadowed by continued speculation about the future ownership of the club, which came to a head in April when owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett said they would be looking to sell.

Roberto Mancini will remain Manchester City manager for "many years", says club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

City's hopes of finishing fourth in the Premier League ended with Wednesday's 1-0 defeat by Tottenham, who can now qualify for the Champions League.

But speculation that Mancini's job was under threat has been dismissed by the City chairman.

"Roberto's going to do a wonderful job for us for many years," Mubarak told Manchester City's official website.

"Roberto is our manager. He's done an excellent job coming in mid-season, organising the team. I'm very happy, and [owner] Sheikh Mansour's delighted with the way he's organised the team."

Mubarak added: "We believe he is definitely the right manager for this club for many years. What he needs this summer is time to prepare and really organise ourselves.

"We know the areas that need to be improved within the club. A good pre-season followed with a good start to the season and I'm really excited for next year."

The City chairman insisted that he viewed the season as a success after the club improved on last year's Premier League finish of 10th place.

"It's been a wonderful season," reflected Mubarak. "We've gone a long way as a team and I feel very good about next year because we've crossed an important milestone as a club. Next year's going to be a very important year for us.

"It's been an incredible season. We can focus on last night or we can focus on the season as a whole - I prefer to do that.

"Fifth is not where we would like but it's a major jump. It's a major achievement for this club to move from 10th to fifth place."

There have been rumours of a difficult relationship between Mancini and star striker Carlos Tevez, but Mubarak insisted the Argentine would also stay at Eastlands and overtake the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the top player in the world.

"Carlos Tevez has scored 29 goals and has been the heart and soul of this team," he added.

"He has been absolutely phenomenal. I have no doubt he's going to be the best player in the world - it is just a matter of time."

Looking ahead to the summer, it seems likely that Manchester City will again be major players in the transfer market.

"Manchester City is now a real force to be reckoned with in this league and the acceleration of investment really has put us in this position maybe a year early," continued Mubarak. "That gives us a much better position this summer to work from."

When asked after Wednesday's match whether he would remain in charge next season, Mancini told BBC Radio 5 live: "Yes, absolutely."

The former Inter Milan boss succeeded Mark Hughes in December and vowed to qualify for the Champions League, and City looked on course to do so before losing at home to Manchester United and drawing away at Arsenal last month.

Victory over Aston Villa last Saturday kept them in the hunt and they went into Wednesday's game a point behind Spurs with two matches to play.

But Harry Redknapp's men deserved their victory at the City of Manchester Stadium - secured by Peter Crouch's late header - and it moves them four points clear of Mancini's men going into the final round of games on Sunday.

"We can work together and develop together," added Mancini, whose side will play in the Europa League next season. "I want to win here, I want to be able to win here.

"I think I stay here. Why not? I work here four or five months and I think when you build a house you don't start from the roof but the basement. We work very well but we are near the roof.

"I am not a magician, I don't have a magic wand. We wanted this [fourth] place and we tried like Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa.

"When you don't finish fourth this is football but we did a good job."

Portsmouth's administrators have revealed the relegated Premier League club's debts now stand at £135m.

In February, Pompey became the first Premier League club to enter administration with debts of £60m-£70m.

And in April it was revealed the FA Cup finalists, who have had four different owners this season, were £120m in debt.

The news comes on the day creditors have approved the drafting of a debt-repayment plan that will enable the club to emerge from administration.

The club is offering to pay at least 20 pence in the pound over five years, and Pompey's current owner Balram Chainrai has said small creditors (those owed less than £2,500) and charities will be paid in full at a total cost to him of almost £200,000.

The new plan - a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) - will be drawn up by the club's joint administrators from UHY Hacker Young and distributed within 10 business days of Thursday's meeting.

Another meeting will then be arranged within 14-28 days to approve the CVA. This will require the backing of 75% of the club's unsecured creditors (based on amounts owed).

Portsmouth's so-called "football creditors" must be repaid first and in full under football's rules.

This group includes clubs still owed over £17m in transfer fees by Portsmouth, and current and former players who are owed almost £5m in bonuses, wages and image rights payments.

Chainrai will also get his outstanding £14.2m loan repaid in full but his three predecessors - Sacha Gaydamak, Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Ali Al-Faraj - will have to accept the same reduced rations on offer to the non-football, unsecured creditors.

Prominent among this group is Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC), whose claim on Pompey has risen from £17.1m to an eye-watering £35m in fines, taxes and National Insurance contributions.

Under the draft plan, the company Portsmouth City Football Club will be liquidated after nine months and a new one set up.

The CVA and club's assets, including the "golden share" that enables Portsmouth to play in the Football League, will then be transferred across to the new entity.

The liquidation of the old company was agreed to by HMRC as it allows a thorough investigation of the recent situation at Portsmouth to take place.

It was made clear in Thursday's meeting that the alternative to this plan would mean the creditors would see nothing.

The creditors' committee is made up of Ocadia (a Gaydamak investment vehicle), the Professional Footballers' Association, football agents Capstone and two local suppliers acting in concert.

The first year of the CVA will be funded by transfers and dramatically reducing the wage-bill. Beyond the first year the funding will come from the club's usual revenues and parachute payments made to clubs relegated from the Premier League to the Championship.

The target is to get the squad's annual payroll down to £10m from the current total of £40m.