The Northern Irish defender of Manchester United Jonny Evans sustained a surgery in the previous season of the Premier League which left him out of action from a number of matches for his club as well as having to settle with a place on the sidelines of the team during some games, which led to him only being able on making 17 league appearances in the last campaign.

Even though Evans did not play a substantially important role for Manchester United he still opted to extend his contract with the Premier League which extends until 2016.
Louis van Gaal has given the chance of players to step it up and turn into a pivotal figure for the English club, during the pre-season schedule of Manchester United they have already faced off against LA Galaxy and came out on top with a dominating 7-0 victory with Jonny Evans playing for 46 minutes before being substituted and replaced by Michael Keane.

Jonny Evans is well aware of all the challenges that await him and his teammates as Manchester United has a schedule which includes matches against: Real Madrid, As.Roma and Inter Milan all of which are going to be played before the start of the season which initiates in August.

Jonny Evans said: “Given who we are playing, we’ll obviously go there knowing more about our opponents than when we’ve played some of the American sides in recent years. Playing against teams that you know better is always a challenge and we’ll need to make sure we are on top of our game. If it’s warm as well it usually makes a big difference, especially during pre-season games when you’re trying to get your fitness. It will definitely help us.”

During Manchester United’s pre-season match against LA Galaxy, Louis van Gaal substituted almost all the players in the 2nd half as he is trying to see which combination of players and tactics is optimal for the next campaign and Jonny Evans is happy to know that he is being taken into consideration in the plans of the new coach.

Manchester United defender Johnny Evans has returned to first-team action, but he has revealed that he does not expect to be picked for the starting line-up against Bayern Munich. The defender has been out injured for several weeks now. He has just recovered in time to be fit for the second leg against the German club. Manchester United managed a fighting 1-1 draw against Bayern at Old Trafford. Even though they have to score at the Allianz Arena, it gives them a chance to at least fight for progress into the Champions League semifinals.

Evans just returned to action for the United under 21 team, but he says that the game against Bayern Munich may come too soon for him. This would mean that David Moyes is likely to take Rio Ferdinand, Chris Smalling, or Phil Jones as the centre back partnership for Nemanja Vidic. United were extremely compact in defence during the first leg. Moyes used the experienced partnership of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand for this match. However, the 35-year-old Ferdinand is not likely to be taken against the German club at home.

This would mean that Chris Smalling has to step up to this position, which would be a major change for after having been playing nonleague football only a few years ago.

“It was nice to go out there and play as we’ve got a big game coming up on Wednesday in Munich. I don’t know if I’ll be involved or not. Maybe it’s touch and go on that but I just hope the lads can do well and get a good result. In terms of my injury, it may have come too soon for me but, in terms of excitement-wise, the game cannot come quickly enough – especially for the fans and players. Everyone is looking forward to it,” said Evans.