SIDWELL IMPRESSES

Fulham’s Steve Sidwell has emerged into one of the important players at the club in the last few seasons. Even though the form of the club has not been good this campaign, he has been an instrumental player in the middle of the park along with Scott Parker. The 33-year-old joined only in the summer from Tottenham on a free transfer. He signed a three-year contract with the London club, which seems to be causing problems in the Sidwell camp. Sidwell is out of contract in the summer and he is keen to renew the deal with Fulham.

However, the club has offered him only a one-year contract, which has been rejected. The player has told through his representatives that he is looking at a two-year deal in order to put them level on terms with Parker. Due to the fact that he is much younger than the former England international, Sidwell feels that he will be worthy of this deal. Negotiations have certainly not ended and Fulham are expected to come with a new offer in the next few weeks. They would want to tie up the midfielder sooner rather than later.

He recently scored a wonder goal against Crystal Palace to help the team record only their third win of the season. The poor form has seen them dropping into the relegation zone. Even though they have won three matches up until now, a run of eight defeats meant that other teams around them have been picking points through the draws. Martin Jol’s future at the club has been thrown into doubt as a result of this poor form, but he has been sounding confident in recent weeks about getting a result before Christmas.

Former Manchester United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen has been brought in to work alongside Jol to further increase the rumours.

BACK IN THE MIX

Darren Fletcher’s bowel condition has left him out of the Manchester United’s playing fields since December of 2012 although things are getting better for the Scottish midfielder as he is active playing for the club’s Under-21 and even completed playing for 90 minutes as he played an entire match last month.
Even though he is active and being featured for the Under-21’s team, Moyes still believes that he still cannot play for the main squad as he needs to get completely fit and recovered from the condition he has been experiencing.
He told the Manchester United official website: “I don’t think Darren is quite ready yet.
“He has a bit to do in terms of more reserve games. It’s great to see him training regularly, that’s a big thing.
“He’s beginning to look like a footballer again, and that in itself is a real plus for him.”
Manchester United lost one of their most influential players of the midfield when Michael Carrick suffered from an Achilles injury on November which is starting to become a big problem for Moyes as it is becoming a position that the champions of the Premier League have been struggling most on in this season.
They are even expected to make a move for a number of midfielders as they hope it can be solved by next year. Fellaini was signed from Everton but he is not performing as once thought, Carrick is injured and the arrival of Fletcher can be a temporary solution to their main problems.
Darren Fletcher played in the Under-21’s team alongside Wilfried Zaha who has only made 1 appearance under the guidance of David Moyes. Zaha joined Manchester United earlier this year in January with a price tag of £15 million but he has barely made any impact in the team

FLETCHER COMING BACK

Fletcher suffered from a serious bowel condition that has kept him unable to play with the main squad of Manchester United for 10 months although recent reports suggest that the midfielder is almost ready to make his return and starting playing once more in the Premier League.

Moyes is delighted with his progress: “It is great to get Darren back.

“It was the first time he pulled on a jersey in a competitive reserve league game (since the operation) and we’re really pleased.

“We will bring him along, his training is coming along well, but we don’t want to do anything that might give him a setback.

“It is a sort of steady, slow grind for him just now.

“But we are pleased and hope to involve him in the upcoming reserve games in the weeks to come, if he continues to do as well as he is doing now.”

The 28 years old Scottish midfielder went under the knife and had a surgery on ulcerative colitis which disabled him from playing most of last season’s matches. He was even an option for Moyes as he was expected to make a substitute appearance in United’s match against Norwich City for the Capital One Cup but Moyes wanted to be completely sure Fletcher was fully healed before adding him into the squad.

The disappointing start of this season from Manchester United could use the boost of Fletcher in the midfield as they have once more tried to cover up their weaknesses in midfield and in defence by adding more attacking options to take them out of their losing situations.

Manchester United are the current champions of the Premier League and cannot afford to lose any more points if they want to keep hold of their crown.