Manchester United latest: Including Vidic and Newcastle preview

United have been dealt a real blow with captain Nemanja Vidic ruled out for eight weeks with a further knee injury, the same one he suffered a cruciate injury to last year. With Ferdinand and Evans the only fit centre-backs, United cannot afford any more injuries, and will be hoping their youngsters provide encouragement tomorrow night.

Rio Ferdinand has spoken of his excitement in seeing potential future stars on show in United’s Capital One Cup match against Newcastle. Ferdinand names new signing Angelo Henriquez, Nick Powell, Jesse Lingard and Larnell Cole as youngsters that could make an appearance against Newcastle at Old Trafford on Wednesday night and he hopes the youngsters will be able to make a mark in the cup fixture.

Despite reports that Rio Ferdinand would be open to a return to the England set-up, The Sun are reporting that England manager Roy Hodgson is yet to contact the United defender over a possible return following John Terry’s retirement. Hodgson has not selected Ferdinand in any of his international squads owing to what he proclaims has ‘football reasons’ but John Terry’s international retirement has been viewed as an opening for Rio Ferdinand to return.

Darren Fletcher will make his first start for Manchester United in 10 months in the League Cup game against Newcastle, Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed. Alexander Buttner and Nick Powell are also set to start and Chilean Angelo Youngster could also be drafted in to make his first appearance in United colours.

Provisional squad: De Gea, Lindegaard, Johnstone, Rafael, Evans, Keane, Buttner, Valencia, Anderson, Nani, Carrick, Cleverley, Fletcher, Powell, Cole, Lingard, Vermijl, Tunnicliffe, Hernandez, Welbeck, Macheda, King.

And Jesse Lingard, who will be in the squad for the match tomorrow night, is hoping to earn his first competitive appearance for Manchester United’s senior side in the game against Newcastle. The 19-year-old midfielder impressed in United’s pre-season tour and he has stated that he will be ready to play should Sir Alex Ferguson select him.

Despite being a mainstay for United in the left-back position, Patrice Evra has vowed never to take his starting spot for granted especially following the acquisition of Alex Buttner who impressed on his debut against Wigan. And Evra claims that he will continue to fight for the position and remindful of the fact that he fought off Gabriel Heinze and Mikael Silvestre in past seasons to earn the starting role.

image: © nasmac

Tomo Taka

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Tomo Taka is a young writer who seeks out insightful stories from the world of sport. He looks to analyse and speculate on relevant sporting topics and in doing so capture the story from a unique angle. Tomo's main interests are football, NFL and Formula One and he has a firm grasp of all other sports. As he makes his first forays into writing, he hopes he can entertain and interest the site's readership and offer a captivating view of the day's sporting stories.