Republic of Ireland star John O'Shea today confirmed he is set to sign a new contract with Manchester United. The defender plans to finalise the deal on his return from a holiday in the Caribbean.
O'Shea has burst onto the scene at Old Trafford and was one of the players used most by Alex Ferguson last season, making 52 appearances.
The 22-year-old completed a long campaign last night when he was named man-of-the-match in Ireland's 2-0 Euro 2004 qualifying win over Georgia at Lansdowne Road.
The win followed Saturday's 2-1 success over Albania in Dublin and lifted Ireland into second place in Group Ten. If they beat Russia at home in September, and then win in Switzerland a month later, they will top the group and qualify automatically for Portugal.
"I couldn't have asked for a better end to this season," said O'Shea. "The last two months have been a dream and these two results for Ireland have been the icing on the cake.
"I've played almost 60 games this season and I've never done that before, but I'm looking forward to doing it next season. Everyone seems to be quite happy with me. It was Alex Ferguson's decision to play me in all those games so he must have been happy with me. I've played some internationals in the middle of that and I think Brian Kerr was happy so it was a case of being a very satisfying season for me."
PA