Manchester United are through to the Youth Cup quarter-final following a 5-1 victory over Swansea. Gyliano van Velzen scored twice and the other goals came from Jack Barmby, Sam Byrne and Tyler Blackett. Barmby and Blackett particularly shone.

United will now play against the winners of the Charlton and Tottenham tie on a fortnight.

Whilst not naming Ravel Morrison, it could be interpreted as a dig at the troublesome youngster, whose poor attitude has almost put an end to his Manchester United career.

“He has a good attitude, although he should have, he’s a young player with an opportunity at Manchester United,” said Ferguson. “That’s one of the reasons you pick these players, because they show their temperament as they come through the youth programmes and the reserves. I am always confident about their temperament, their attitude to the game and their enthusiasm to play. In terms of judging young players, I don’t think we’ve ever failed in that respect.”

Or maybe the manager is intending to use to motivate Morrison?

“His demands are unrealistic as far as we’re concerned,” the manager said.

One of Morrison’s friends showed him a picture on Twitter of the player in a United shirt, but with “CASH” photoshopped across the front. Morrison then replied to someone claiming he was asking for £50k a week by saying “got it wrong mate not asked for anything of [sic] united yet.”

If Morrison is allowed to leave in the summer his fee will be decided by a tribunal and is likely to be considerably less than the £1m that Newcastle have offered. If United weren’t confident of keeping the player, would they not have accepted Newcastle’s money? Or are they biding their time until the end of the window? They surely can’t expect anyone to pay more than the Newcastle offer. Hmmm. Watch this space.

The player who has been long tipped to be the most talented player to come through our youth team since the likes of David Beckham and Paul Scholes looks set to leave Manchester United.

It’s a desperately disappointing situation for the club and fans, given how much time and effort has been invested in him. United have stood by him despite his numerous off field problems but with his contract up in the summer and the club not meeting his wage demands, it appears he will be off.

“His agent has been working hard to get him another club,” said Ferguson. “We’ve offered him terms which he’s refused, so that’s where it is. We’ve rejected an offer from Newcastle and it’s now down to how that progresses.”

Asked if Morrison still had a future at United, Ferguson said: “His demands are unrealistic as far as we’re concerned.”

If United can’t tame him, I don’t believe any club will, but that doesn’t change the fact it is a terrible waste of talent. One day he will look back at this time and wonder what the fuck he was thinking about. Here’s hoping something can be done between now and the summer to sort his head out but it’s not looking promising.

The Sun reported earlier today that Ravel Morrison’s contract talks with Manchester United had broken down.

Speaking on Twitter, Morrison has claimed that there is no contract offer for him to talk about. Is that because he’s signed a deal? Is it because he’s rejected the latest offer and there isn’t another deal on the table? We shall see…

It has taken several weeks for an extension to be agreed but Barry Fry, the director of football at Peterborough, spoke highly of the teenager when the deal was being talked about.

“One day I can definitely see him getting into the first-team at Manchester United, but remember that he is still only 18 at the minute and he’s still learning the game,” he said. “When he does come on from the bench he always makes an impact and helps change the game for sure. I think that he has got one hell of a future in front of him because he is very strong, aggressive in winning the ball and goes from box-to-box all game and there aren’t many of those around in the game at the moment. I can definitely see a bright future for him and hopefully Darren can persuade the boy and Manchester United to keep him here till the end of the season and if that is the case it will be a great signing for us.”

“We have an option on Paul’s contract that takes us into a year-and-a-half away so in that respect there’s not a great emergency about it,” Ferguson said. “But we’d like the boy to sign a contract and if he’d like to be a Manchester United player then he knows what to do. There will be chances here. We’ve got players capable of wearing the red jersey and, and they’ll wear it with complete confidence they can do well.”

Sir Alex Ferguson has reiterated the club’s stance on the player, that we want him to stay, and that he shouldn’t be in a rush to leave United for bigger contracts, even if his agent thinks otherwise.

“He’s got an agent who’s obviously become a bit difficult but we’re negotiating with this agent and we want the boy to stay,” Ferguson insisted. “But it’s down to the individual also. Matt Busby summed it up perfectly, that you don’t need to chase money at a club like Manchester United, it will eventually find you. If you’re good enough, you will earn money and become rich playing for us, there’s no doubt about it. You hope he gets the right advice. All the young players who remain here always do well. It’s one of these situations that they can chase the money early in their career but at the end it’s not the same as if they’d stayed here. It’s the decision the player has to take himself, no matter who he is, about where they think their best future will be. He just needs to look round about him to realise that. But if he wants to go, there is nothing we can do about it.”

After a disappointing time on loan with Sampdoria, Bia claims that the Italian striker won’t be returning to his homeland on loan again, but will probably accept one of the offers that has come in for him.

“I spoke last week with Ferguson: I think that Federico will play somewhere else in January,” Bia said. “He can no longer continue to be on the field for only 15 or 20 minutes, he must absolutely find more space. There are requests, but not from Italy. In the first week of January we will evaluate the proposals that we’ve received. Macheda’s departure, however, has nothing to do with the elimination from the Champions League.”

Palace are currently 10th in the Championship and managed to beat Southampton, who are top of the table, in the competition last month.

Ferguson is putting his faith in youth though and singles out Paul Pogba as a player who might start. Pogba has played for 45 minutes against Leeds and 30 minutes against Aldershot so far this season. The manager doesn’t name Ravel Morrison as a potential starter, although you’d like to think he would get some time on the park on Wednesday.

“There will be complete changes,” said Ferguson. “Chris Smalling has come back and I may be able to play him. He’s still young and it’ll be a young squad against Palace. The only area where I’ve got problems is centre midfield. It’s possible I could play Pogba in there but we’ll wait and see. I’ve got enough players to choose from, that’s for sure.”

The League Cup win in 2006 has been seen by some as the catalyst for the success that has followed, after the press had written United off as in decline the year before. The trophy has also been a great way for us to bring young players in to the team, which Ferguson believes makes it an important tournament.

“I think the League Cup has turned into quite a good tournament,” he added. “Clubs like United are able to introduce young players and ones who have not been playing regularly in the first team, and it’s been good to us over the years. We’ve won two finals at Wembley with young players, which is good going, and I think it’s become an important tournament for us in terms of getting the youngsters an introduction into winning and having an understanding of the progress they’re making.”

Reece Brown was also present but was away from the main group with Danny Welbeck and Chris Smalling following their recent injuries.

Wayne Rooney, Jonny Evans and Anderson were all absent from training, as well as Michael Owen and Tom Cleverley who have been ruled out until Christmas.