Manchester United have insisted they are still confident Irish full-back Denis Irwin will sign a new contract with the Premiership champions. Irwin and fellow United player Raimond van der Gouw are officially both out of contract from tomorrow and neither star has yet put pen to paper for the Old Trafford club. Both players have been offered one-year contracts and both have stalled on signing the new deals.
United deputy chief executive David Gill is optimistic however that Irwin and van der Gouw will both sign. "We've offered them both contracts for one more year and we are hopeful they will sign. In doing that we have demonstrated our desire to keep them at the club and we'll just have to wait and see what happens now. They have been part of our success over recent years and we believe they can do an excellent job for us next season," he said.
Irwin, who is 36 later this year, has been unsure about his future after losing out on his first-team place to Mikael Silvestre this season. However, manager Alex Ferguson has told the former Irish international that he still figures in the Scot's plans for the club next season. But Irwin may insist on regular first-team football and could be forced to look elsewhere to fulfill that objective.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
