Manchester United star announces retirement

Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has retired from football, according to journalist Andy Mitten (via Metro). The Northern Ireland international played his last game for the Red Devils against the Hong Kong national team on Friday, May 30.

The Premier League giants came from behind to secure a 3-1 win in their second post-season friendly in Asia. Evans started the game before being replaced by Ayden Heaven at half time.

It had already been announced last weekend that Evans, whose contract expires this summer, will leave Manchester United. However, Andy Mitten has now confirmed that the 37-year-old has called time on his illustrious career.

Evans rose through the ranks at Old Trafford, before breaking into the first team in the 2007/08 campaign under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson. He went on to become a key figure for the Red Devils, covering admirably for Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

However, Louis van Gaal opted to let the Northern Ireland international leave after taking charge in 2015. Evans would go on to have a decent career, even winning the FA Cup with Leicester City.

Former manager Erik ten Hag opted to sign the veteran defender for free in the summer of 2023. Jonny Evans went on to feature heavily for Manchester United last season, even starting the FA Cup final win over Manchester City. He has registered 241 appearances for the Red Devils over two stints.

What has Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim said about Jonny Evans?

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has hailed Jonny Evans as a model professional. The veteran defender suffered with injuries this season, registering 13 appearances across competitions.

Speaking recently, Amorim added that Evans has always maintained high standards in training.

"He has been a great professional. Whenever he has been fit, he has trained well with very high standards. He has also proven on the pitch that he is a very good player. The level that he has in training, you can see the standards he had in his prime and why they won so many titles. When he was fit to train the level was really high. I also want Evans to help the young kids beside him," said Amorim (via Metro).

Evans becomes the third major departure from Manchester United this summer. The Red Devils have already announced that Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen will leave Old Trafford. Both players' contracts run out at the end of next month.

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Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered close to 20 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

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Edited by Sankalp Srivastava