Man Utd have triggered the extra year’s extension in versatile left-back Ashley Young’s contract at Old Trafford.
The 32-year-old’s previous deal had been set to expire this summer.
Ashley Young has won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League in his time at Old Trafford.
He has played in 29 matches this season, scoring two goals, and won a spot back in the England squad.
Young has made 31 international appearances and was named in manager Gareth Southgate’s England squad for this month’s friendly matches against the Netherlands and Italy.
News of the contract extension could have implications for left-back Luke Shaw, whose future is reportedly uncertain after he was criticised by Mourinho following Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Brighton

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has said that he has already “settled” into life at the club after his January switch from Southampton.
Liverpool paid a world-record fee for a defender to take Van Dijk to Anfield, but the Netherlands international initially struggled to put together a consistent run of positive displays.
However, Virgil Van Dijk is now established in the centre of Liverpool’s defence, and the player has claimed that he is “getting better and better” with the more matches that he features in Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The 26-year-old is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: “I feel settled, definitely. Is it quicker than I might have thought? I don’t know. Obviously you come here with expectations and you want to play as soon as possible and as much as possible this season and be as fit as possible and quick as possible.
‘Now, I’m getting better and better and the understanding with all of the players is getting much better. I’m just playing my game and trying to help my team.”

Lionel Messi has conceded that the 2018 World Cup could be his last chance at glory with Argentina.
Lionel Messi has been unable to follow up trophies at Barcelona with success on the international stage.
LMessi endured three successive losses in major finals – World Cup (2014), Copa America (2015, 2016) – and the forward conceded those defeats have left him in tears.
“I cried many times because of games like these, for lost finals, for what they mean and for not being able to achieve the dream of a country,” Messi told Argentine television program La Cornisa.
“They [the three finals] were tough blows,” Messi continued. “It seems like having reached three finals doesn’t help us at all.”
Defeat in the most recent Copa America final led Messi to retire from international duty in 2016, but after the Argentine public, including president Mauricio Macri, urged him to reconsider, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner reversed his decision less than two months later.
Lionel Messi admitted this summer’s edition could be his final shot of World Cup success.
“We depend on the results, unfortunately,” Messi said. “We feel that if we are not champions … we will not have another.”
“I imagine being able to be in that game, to win it, to be able to raise the cup. It’s the dream I have always had and every time a World Cup comes it gets even stronger.
“I want to tell people that I hope it’s a great World Cup for us, that my wish is the same as all of you and that we can live something similar to 2014, which was an unforgettable experience, and that the result is similar but this time raising the cup is everyone’s dream.”

Tottenham will make a £175m profit on Harry Kane if they were to sell the striker at the end of the season, according to the CIES Football Observatory.
Harry Kane did not cost Tottenham a penny to purchase as he came through the academy and therefore any money made from his sale will be a profit.
The research indicates that the North London club stand to make more money from the England international than any other player in the world, with Lionel Messi rated at £173m if Barcelona were to cash in.
Dele Alli is third in the CIES ranking, meanwhile, with a potential profit of £139m, and Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann also features high on the list with a return of £115m.

Nemanja Matic has revealed he enjoys working under Jose Mourinho, despite the Manchester United manager’s demanding nature.
Jose Mourinho once again criticised his players on the back of Saturday night’s 2-0 FA Cup win against Brighton, admitting that “the performance was not as good as the result”.
Jose Mourinho also went on a 12-minute rant 24 hours prior when outlining his past managerial achievements, having seen his side exit the Champions League with a shock defeat to Sevilla earlier in the week.
United midfielder Matic admits that the former Real Madrid and Chelsea manager’s high standards can make him difficult to work with, but understands that it is a prerequisite to success.
“I didn’t have many managers in my life. He is special because he wants to win always,” he told reporters after the win against Brighton. “You can see when we lose a game he cannot accept that. Probably that’s why he won more than 20 trophies in his life.
“It is very difficult to work with him because he always wants more and more. Even if you win the league he wants to win again next season. At this high level, Manchester United and where I used to play Chelsea, the players need to be ready for that because the pressure is big.
“Everyone expects you to win every game. Obviously it is not possible, but supporters always expect. It doesn’t matter if you are tired or not, supporters want high quality football. It is normal.”

A number of Manchester United players were left angry at manager Jose Mourinho following his treatment of Luke Shaw at the weekend, according to various reports
Luke Shaw was taken off at half time of Manchester United’s 2-0 FA Cup victory over Brighton , with Mourinho heavily criticising his performance after the game despite seeing his side reach the semi-finals of the competition.
The incident was the latest in a long line of Mourinho criticisms aimed at the England international, and The Telegraph reports that a number of United players were left stunned by Mourinho’s actions.
The report goes on to claim that some players even consider Mourinho to be bullying the former Southampton defender following another public humiliation.
Shaw has more than a year remaining on his contract at Old Trafford, but is widely expected to leave the club this summer following reports of a training ground row with Mourinho.

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen have expressed their desire to see Andres Iniesta stay at the club.
The Barca captain has received an offer from China and has indicated that he has to make a decision over his future before the end of next month.
“First we will wait for him to say that he’s leaving. He has not expressed himself in any way. At the moment Andres is with us and we count on him. We all want to have Andres Iniesta forever, but we’ll see what happens,” Valverde told Sport.
“It’s a personal decision but everyone hopes he will stay at Barca because he’s a great person. We know we need to keep going as team until the end and we need him now and in the years to come. We’re focused on the present and he will make his decision when he has to,”
”I hope he stays but he’s the only one that knows. We know what a great person he is, how important he is to the club and we have to try and keep him here.”
”It’s a personal decision. We’re going to support him and of course we want our captain [here].” Ter Stegen is also quoted as saying in Sport.

Kogi state’s embattled senator, Dino Melaye has reacted to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, withdrawal of police officers attached to Very Important Persons, including political and public office holders nationwide.
He took the issue personal; in his views, he thinks he was one of the reasons for the decision.
In his words:
Withdrawal of police from VIP I am the target. IG want to expose me so I can be killed. Having survived Assassination attempt twice I deserve police protection in a country where I’m a tax payer.

Nigerian popstar, Wizkid, in an interview, revealed that his parents found out about his 3rd son with his manager, Jada Pollock on social media.
In an interview with Beat FM, the singer was asked how he tells his parents he is having a kid out of wedlock to which he replied;
“The crazy thing is this last one. My parents just kinda found out online’. My Mom just wants me to get married, stay with one woman and have babies but I’m 27 years old.”
Wizkid continued saying although he has 3 kids from 3 different women, he would love another child, this time a girl.
“I’ve got three kids, three lovely boys that I love so much. I want a girl,” he said. On not being able to keep his life private he said;
“I’m a private person. I like to keep my personal life out of the media as much as I can,” he said. “There are superstars that [have] normal lives. You can control everything if you want to.”
On if he will eventually settle down with just one woman, he said; “that will be hard because I have a lot of women that are really really dear to my heart”.

Donald Trump wants to seek the death penalty for some drug traffickers under plans to combat America’s opioids crisis.
The US President was today expected to unveil his proposals in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by drug addiction.
A White House official said the plans would include stiffer penalties for drug traffickers including seeking the death penalty “where appropriate under current law”
The president was to be joined by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown a keen interest in the issue.
Opioids, including heroin, prescription opioids and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 people in the US in 2016, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mr Trump has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration but critics say the effort has fallen short.
Mr Trump has spoken in recent weeks about subjecting drug dealers to the “ultimate penalty.”
The president told the audience at a Pennsylvania campaign rally this month that countries like Singapore have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers.
He argued that a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, but that a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands can spend little or no time in jail.
“The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness,” Mr Trump said

The Presidency yesterday explained that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to delay making public his position about the 2019 general election is to prevent desperate politicians from sabotaging the country.
President Buhari had recently provided hints about the possibility of his running for a second tenure amidst calls by some Nigerians for him to jettison the thoughts.
Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja at the weekend, said the President cannot speak on the issue especially with the election still about one year away because he knows the consequences.
Adesina said, if President Buhari speaks too early about his ambition, it may give ammunition to unnamed opponents to throw everything at him and sabotage the country.
When pressed to specifically state when the President will declare his intention, the presidential spokesman said, “you know the peculiarity of Nigeria particularly now. If the president speaks too early, it’s a problem. There is a lot of sabotage in the country.
“You have also heard so many have said ‘don’t run.’ Because they know that if the president runs, others people should just run a way because they don’t have the foggiest chance in hell to beat him.
“So, they want to discourage him from running.
“Now, if he tells you ‘I’m going to run,’ and elections are still one year away, it gives them one year to sabotage the entire country from all fronts – politically, socially, economically – they would throw everything at him just to dissuade him from running.
“So, when you know that, why then do you speak early?
“I think it makes a lot of sense for you then to keep things close to your chest till it is time for you to then say, ‘ok, I’m running’ by which time they can do less damage.”

Video assistant referee technology will make its debut at the World Cup in Russia this summer despite lingering opposition from within and outside football, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Friday.

“We are going to have in 2018, for the first time, a World Cup with VAR,” said Infantino after a meeting of the FIFA Council which, as expected, rubber-stamped the go-ahead given by the rule-making International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Zurich two weeks ago.

“This has been approved and we are really very happy with this decision.”

The World Cup, which takes place from June 14-July 15, will see VAR used to judge whether or not a goal has been scored, analyse whether a penalty should be awarded, decide on red cards and rectify if a player has been mistakenly sanctioned.

“What we want is to help and to give the referee the possibility to have extra help when he has to make important decisions, and in a World Cup we make very important decisions,” added Infantino.

“It cannot be possible that in 2018 everybody, in the stadium or at home, knows in a few seconds if the referee has made a mistake but not the referee himself — not because he doesn’t want to know about it but because we forbid him to know.

“The VAR is helping the referee and we are going to have a more transparent and fairer game, and that’s what we want.”

VAR has been trialled since 2016 by 20 federations, including the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A, with around 1,000 matches involved.

But it has not been universally welcomed with even UEFA, the European governing body, still to be convinced.

“Nobody knows exactly how VAR will work. There is already a lot of confusion,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, who insists that VAR will not be used in next season’s Champions League.

“I am not at all against it but we must better explain when it will be used. We will see at the World Cup.”

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Saturday, said since the herdsmen killings in the state on New Year’s Day, he had lost sleep.
The governor said this when he received the General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Church, Rev. Paul Emeka, and his entourage, in his office in Makurdi.
Ortom stated that he could no longer sleep well since the attack on January 1, when herdsmen invaded Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the state, resulting in the death of about 164 residents to date.
“I can’t sleep in Government House here with my two eyes closed for 20 minutes because looking at my people undergoing this kind of trauma in the state is enough trauma for me already,” he said.
The governor called on all Nigerians of goodwill to continue to pray for peace in Benue State and Nigeria.
Ortom said he would continue to cry until those behind the killings were apprehended and brought to justice.
He said, “The security agencies must rise up to their responsibilities. Somebody must be blamed for this. I cannot continue to weep over this carnage every day. The law we enacted is meant to proffer a solution to the incessant herders/farmers clashes.
“There are less than 20 million cattle in Nigeria. In India, America and some countries even in Africa, there are over 300 million cattle and we don’t hear of this kind of carnage. We cannot afford to continue in this primitive way of rearing cattle. The time for nomadic life is gone. We must adopt a new approach of rearing cattle to ensure we live peacefully with one another.
“Enough is enough. We cannot continue in this manner. We have prayed and asked that if we have sinned, God should forgive us and may the blood of the people not flow again. If it’s the sin of our forefathers, let God forgive us. After that pronouncement, we want to trust God that He will raise fighters against our fighters.”
Emeka said he was in the state to commiserate with the government and people of the state over the killings and promised that the church would continue to pray for the state.

The Senator representing Kaduna Central in the Senate, Shehu Sani, has warned that the All Progressives Congress risks being voted out of power in 2019 if the killings perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen continue.
Sani, who spoke at the Oyo State Press Centre, Ibadan, on Saturday, during the 5th Development Summit of the Olalekan Olomide Platform for Development, said a party that failed to ensure safety of human lives and means of income as well as their property lacked the moral right to ask for peoples’ votes in an election.
He noted however that the party had achieved successes in other areas.
He said, “We must honestly admit that there are successes achieved by this administration but mindless killings, violence and sheding of peoples blood in most states of the federation are mind-boggling. The crisis is also a threat to the peace and unity of Nigeria. The killings are not acceptable and that is why I said the President must stand up to the reality of our country today.
“If our party cannot guarantee the peace and stability, we factually have given up our moral right to ask people to vote for us again.”

Deputy governor of Imo state, Eze Madumere, says no man born of a woman can stop him from becoming the next governor of the state.
Madumere in a statement released by his spokesperson, Uche Onwuchekwa, said in an apparent disregard to the position of the inccumbent state governor, Rochas Okorocha, who has endorsed Uche Nwosu, his son-in-law, as his successor.
Madumere who is currently fighting his biggest political battles, said owing to his years of experience in the private and public sectors, he is more qualified to succeed Okorocha.
“The deputy governor once more likened his betrayal from those he managed and nurtured to limelight politically to that of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was also betrayed by those he loved and called his friends. He, however, vowed that no man born of a woman could stop his ambition, saying that God remained the ultimate decider of anyone’s future.” the statement read
Okorocha is rumored to be pulling his strings to kick Madumere out of office and frustrate his ambition.

Mariam Ashabi Moropeda, the daughter of late Yoruba actress, Moji Olaiya clocks one today.
The late Nollywood actress gave birth to Mariam in Canada before she passed away a few months after on May 17, 2017.
May God be with the little kid.

Four teenage gunmen suspected to be members of a cult group, on Friday attacked the Community Secondary School, Biogbolo, in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The teenage gunmen, who brandished assault rifles, caused pandemonium in the school as confused students and staff of the school scampered for safety.
The invasion of the school, however, came a few hours after the state government, through the Ministry of Education, expelled seven pupils over their alleged membership of a cult group. The government expressed the sad existence of cult activities in some schools in the state.
It was gathered on Saturday that the invasion of the CSS, owned by Biogbolo and Yenezue-Epie communities, threw the communities into chaos as the four-member cult gang, armed with assault rifles, scaled the fence and threatened to kill some pupils.
The convener of a non-governmental organisation, Patriotism Advancement and Community Orientation Network, Aluzu Augustine, who was at the school during the invasion, said the teenagers in possession of the assault rifles were between ages 17 and 19. Augustine said,
“At about 12pm, I was in the school to submit our letter of intent on the planned anti-cultism campaign in schools and a teacher was putting me through on how to address the letter because the school is owned by two communities.
“We saw four teenage boys scale the fence of the school and some of them were holding assault rifles. They went straight for a boy and were shouting on him and threatening to kill him. Everyone, including students and staff, scampered for safety.
A few minutes later, some detachment of the state-owned security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo, arrived the school and the boys escaped through the same way they came in. It was terrible development.”

Former Special Assistant to the immediate past President Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, has said that former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala should be Nigeria’s President.
Reno Omokri posted photos from the visit via his Twitter handle.
He described her as
“probably Nigeria’s best offering to the global effort to make this world a better place. We exchanged signed copies of each other’s books.
I look forward to the day when we can forget about tribe, religion and gender to elect a President like NOI (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) “

In a bid to solicit for votes, fans of Big Brother Naija housemate Cee-C have erected a massive billboard on the street ahead of upcoming eviction.
The massive billboard contains a picture of the controversial housemate, the Big Brother logo and a number to vote for Cee-C.
Even though the photo had gone viral on social media, the location of the erected billboard was not been disclosed.
See photos below: