Evans delighted with campaign

Jonny Evans is delighted he has achieved his own challenge and performed more in keeping with a player of Man United's stature.

Red Devils stopper pleased form has improved

Jonny Evans is delighted he has achieved his own challenge this season and performed more in keeping with a player of Manchester United's stature. The Red Devils stopper revealed last summer that his Old Trafford future could be on the line unless his displays improved. Evans has seized his opportunity in Sir Alex Ferguson's team this term following Nemanja Vidic's season-ending injury and has been one of their more consistent performers since the turn of the year. The Northern Ireland international is pleased he has emerged from his tough period a stronger player and has proved he deserves his place in the defending champions' starting line-up.

Too honest

"Maybe I was too honest and shouldn't have said that," he told the club's official website. "But that was an honest opinion of myself, I guess. "Every player goes through that. It was up to me to find a way to get through it. It was a challenge for me and everybody needs to be challenged. "You either rise to it or you don't, and if you don't then you don't deserve to be at a club like Manchester United. "Those are the sorts of challenges everybody here faces - when that happens it's up to you to try and raise your game and get back into the team."

Surprise

Evans has been a regular in United's team in recent season and even he has surprised himself at how much he has featured. "When I came back from being on loan at Sunderland [in 2007/08] I never thought I'd go on to play more than 30 games in my first season at United. That was crazy," he continued. "And I don't think about how many games I might end up playing. My aim is always to just get into the next team and then play well. "I've been here about four years and I've played 120-odd games - that's about 30 a season. Hopefully I can add a few more to that next year."