My take on United's match with Fulham

After that performance on Sunday, it is time for Manchester United to stop considering Nemanja Vidic their first-choice centre-back. They need to look to the future, assuming everybody is fit. He was at fault for Fulham’s late equaliser when he should have headed the ball away and it must be better to play the younger players now.Once you know you are leaving a club, it is normal for your level to drop. I’ve played with people who knew they were leaving a club and it was clear that they had one eye on the future.

You see that in Vidic’s performances — is he giving his all or worried about getting injured? He is certainly making too many mistakes and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling deserve a chance to prove themselves.I’m not convinced they or Jonny Evans are a long-term solution for United but they must be given the opportunity. Sir AlexFerguson said Jones could be a United great but we need to find out now whether that is true.

Yaya Toure beats Mikel Obi and Victor Moses to win African Footballer of the Yearaward

Manchester City's Yaya Toure has been named 2013 BBC African Footballer of the Year.
Toure who had been nominated in each of the past five years but had never won, beat off competition from several players incuding Nigerians, Chelsea anchor man John Obi Mikel and on-loan Liverpool forward Victor Moses to win the award.

PAST WINNERS

2012 - Christopher Katongo (Zambia and Henan Construction)
2011 - Andre 'Dede' Ayew (Marseille & Ghana)
2010 - Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland & Ghana)
2009 - Didier Drogba (Chelsea & Ivory Coast)
2008 - Mohamed Aboutrika (Al Ahly & Egypt)
2007 - Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal & Togo)
2006 - Michael Essien (Chelsea & Ghana)
2005 - Mohamed Barakat (Al Ahly & Egypt)
2004 - Jay Jay Okocha (Bolton & Nigeria)
2003 - Jay Jay Okocha (Bolton & Nigeria)
2002 - El Hadji Diouf (Liverpool & Senegal)
2001 - Sammy Kuffour (Bayern Munich & Ghana)
2000 - Patrick Mboma (Parma & Cameroon)

Manchester City wins battle for 14-year-old Diaz, dubbed the 'new Messi' (and he'sexpected to be worth £40m!)

Brahim Abdelkader Diaz a 14-year-old from Malaga has been dubbed ‘the new Messi’ and
Sportsmail revealed in October that City were fighting Barcelona for his signature.
Manchester City have paid £300,000 up front for Diaz, with the final deal worth £2.4million depending on what he achieves at the club.

United stars touch down in Manchester after rout in Germamy

After routing Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 in Germany, Manchester United were joined by a club favourite when they touched down in the North West on Thursday.Sir Alex Ferguson has kept his distance since stepping aside at the end of last season, but it didn't stop him joining former chief executive David Gill at the BayArena on Wednesday evening for the Champions League clash.And, in the wake of United’s 5-0 demolition, Ferguson and United players were pictured in the lobby at Manchester Airport, signing memorabilia for supporters before making their way home.