Manchester United defender Phil Jones is set to sign a new deal at the club, ending uncertainty over his future at Old Trafford. The new deal is said to be finalised this week, and Jones is understood to have agreed similar terms to his United and England teammate Chris Smalling worth in the region of £80,000 a week.

The 23-year-old joined United in 2011 from Blackburn for a fee of around £16million. His contract was set to expire in just a years time, and with Louis van Gaal looking at recruiting a new centre back this summer it could have meant Jones’ time was up.

Phil Jones has had a fairly uncertain time at United. Often described as a ‘jack of all trades’ – Jones has found himself playing a variety of different positions for club and country. Now 23, Jones is expected to stake his claim as the next John Terry/ Vidic/ Duncan Edwards, as he has been described.

Last season, it’s fair to say that he didn’t exactly made that impression. Jones managed 22 appearances in the league for United, a number which is limited due to his injury troubles. He began the season with a bit of criticism following a few rather ‘rash’ decisions that often led to problems at the back. This criticism continued as he suffered injury setbacks which allowed others to fill in and give off relatively good impressions.

If it wasn’t for the back end of the season, Jones may well have been looking for a new club, with LvG showing him the door. However, his form massively picked up around February/ March time, and he hasn’t looked back since.

So that’s yet another contract deal done, now lets hope there’s another sooner rather than later.