United go mad for Modric style

MANCHESTER UNITED have made Luka Modric their No 1 summer transfer target.

The Red Devils are preparing a £25million bid for Tottenham's 24-year-old Croatian midfielder.

United boss Alex Ferguson sees Modric as a young Paul Scholes, an attacking midfielder and ball player who can make United tick.

Fergie was even full of praise for Modric in his programme notes ahead of their 3-1 home win over Spurs on Saturday.

Talking about the 5ft 8in player and other small talents in football he commented: "And I give you another wee man who'll be at Old Trafford this afternoon: Luka Modric, who is playing out of his skin at the moment."

Modric signed for Spurs from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008 after impressing for Croatia in the European Championships.

He signed a six-year contract after the clubs agreed a £16.5m fee.

Modric struggled early in his first season as he was played out of position by Juande Ramos as a deep-lying midfielder and also had knee trouble.

It was only when Harry Redknapp took over and pushed him further forward that his career at White Hart Lane took off.

His start to this season was curtailed by a broken leg in August but he returned in December and has been in great form during Spurs' push for a Champions League spot.

The move for Modric is bad news for Michael Carrick, who looks to have lost favour with Ferguson.

Carrick has only started one of the last five games after two poor performances against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Spurs boss Redknapp is a huge fan of Carrick and may insist on him being part of any Modric deal.

Fletcher: We'll fight for the title until the last second

Darren Fletcher has warned Chelsea that late-goal specialists Manchester United will fight right to the last second of the title race.

United have kept the pressure up on Chelsea going into Sunday's title D-Day thanks to their late shows against Manchester City and Tottenham.

Nani and Ryan Giggs scored in the last nine minutes to grab a priceless win against Spurs, following Paul Scholes' stoppage-time winner at City.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men are masters at snatching games at the death and they have bagged 28 goals in the last ten minutes of matches this season.

Incredibly, 18 of those goals have come in the last five minutes of matches and ten in stoppage time.

Fletcher puts their number of late goals down to their unshakable belief and the Scot says they never give up.

He says the secret is to remain composed when the temptation is to resort to kitchen-sink tactics.

"The manager said before the Spurs game that it might go down to the last ten minutes and it did," said Fletcher. "The important thing is we keep believing in the way we play.

"We don't get desperate. We throw players forward, but the play isn't desperate, it's not just long balls into the box.

"We believe in passing, getting it wide and creating the right opportunities. Sometimes the fans might want the ball forward early, but 50-50 balls aren't good enough. You need to keep playing football and create good scoring chances.

"That's what we did against City and Tottenham and we got our rewards."

Fergie: Evra's the best in the business

Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Patrice Evra as the best left-back in the world and identified him as Manchester United's unsung hero this season.

While Wayne Rooney has taken all the plaudits for his 34-goal heroics, United boss Fergie singled out Evra as his most consistent performer this term.

Evra, who has played in every one of United's Premier League games this season, beat Chelsea and England left-back Ashley Cole to be named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Although Cole is widely regarded as the most accomplished left-back in world football, Evra's fellow professionals gave him the nod ahead of the Chelsea and England star.

And United boss Fergie claimed no other Premier League player had come close to matching the French international for consistency of performance this season.

"The form of Evra has been sensational all season," said Fergie. There's no-one near Evra's consistency. No-one.

"He's the one player who has not missed any games. He's only not started one Premier League game all season.

"We rested him at Blackburn because he I think he needed a break then, but he came on as a sub there and has done tremendously well since then.

"If you look at the rest of our back four, it's all been scattered appearances.

"With that in mind, we've done remarkably well to still be in the picture despite the handicap of our back-four players being injured."

With Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, John O'Shea, Jonny Evans, Gary Neville and Rafael Da Silva all sidelined at some stage this season, Evra has been the one constant for United.

Evra won the penalty that set United on their way to a crucial 3-1 win over Tottenham last weekend, with a typical attacking run, before being forced off after being sick on the pitch.

The 28-year-old had been struggling with a bug in the build-up to the Spurs game, but Fergie said it was a measure of Evra's dependability that he insisted on playing for United.

"Evra was sick at half-time and eventually we had to take him off because the problem was dehydration," said Fergie.

"We had a bit of sickness with two or three players but Patrice felt okay to play and wanted to play."