Ferdinand Eyes Extended Stay At Old Trafford

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has suggested he has every intention of extending his stay at Old Trafford beyond the current season.

The 34-year-old defender is out of contract at the end of the current campaign, but is likely to be offered a new one year deal in the near future, similarly to his teammate Ryan Giggs, who prolonged his stay at Old Trafford through until 2014 last month.

However, Ferdinand admits that he is unlikely to follow in the footsteps of the evergreen Welshman and play through until his late 30's, a feat that is unlikely to be matched, according to the former England captain.

"I'm just enjoying my football, playing in the big games, being a regular in the team. It enables you to hit a bit of form," the defender is quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. "I hope I can carry on.

"When you get to my stage you take it year by year. I'm working out my routine. But no one else will be able to do what Giggsy has done. He's got a certain body type, works on it and gets the best out of it."

United are closing in on an unprecedented 20<sup>th league title, holding a 15-point gap over second placed Manchester City with just six fixtures of their campaign remaining, although Roberto Mancini's side have a game in hand.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side can go one step closer to securing the league when they travel to Ferdinand's former club West Ham United on Wednesday evening.

City's win over the Premier League leaders on 8 April was the side's first league loss since mid-November, and Ferdinand maintains that the expectation to win is as strong as ever, with the United squad solely focused on ensuring league success is delivered as soon as possible.

"I'm not really surprised by the lead if I'm honest," the United defender added. "When I look around the changing room I expect us to be winning games nine times out of 10.

"I believe in the squad, believe we can win games in various ways, winning ugly, playing fluent football, keeping a clean sheet.

"It would be great to win it again, but until we do I don't want to talk much about it. Last season a lot of people got ahead of themselves."