Evans: Star of the future

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Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington is hoping to be able to call upon Jonny Evans this Saturday.

The Ulstermen have travelled to Maribor to face Slovenia in their latest 2010 World Cup qualifier.

Manchester United defender Evans had been suffering with a virus since joining up with the squad ahead of the crucial contest, but appears to be on the mend and back in contention for a starting role.

"Jonny had a nice bright training session and came through that," Worthington said on Friday.

"We will assess him over the next 24 hours and see where he is at.

"He has had a rough week. He was very poorly on Tuesday and wasn't able to travel with us the following day. He had a slack day yesterday then was well enough to return to the group."

Faith

Meanwhile, Evans is being tipped to be a star of the future by his club boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Manchester United chief believes the 20-year-old is 'guaranteed' to be a first-team regular at Old Trafford in the near future.

"Evans' career is absolutely guaranteed," he said.

"He is 20, Rio Ferdinand is 30 and Nemanja Vidic is 27 so, in a few years' time, he will be the first choice centre-half there is no question about that."

Promise

Evans is just one of a crop of talented youngsters being nurtured for great things by Ferguson, with the Scot excited by the potential at his disposal.

"We have a group of young players who are doing really well and showing fantastic promise," he added.

"Younger players like Rafael (Da Silva), his brother Fabio, Rodrigo Possebon and Daniel Welbeck are like the ones we have always tried to have here in the last 15 years.

"Every team needs lads of 20 or younger, who can take over from the ones that were there before who have become middle-aged in playing terms, with the middle ones becoming older.

"That is what you call managing change."