Darron Gibson Tonight

Darron Gibson believes he is ready to step up to the plate for Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland this season, after the gushing praise of Red Devils’ boss Sir Alex Ferguson in the wake of their win over an Airtricity League XI in the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night.

Ferguson drew parallels between Gibson and Paul Scholes after the Derry man played an instrumental role in the United midfield as they hammered Damien Richardson's side 7-1 in the opening football game at the redeveloped Lansdowne Road venue.

“We expect Darron to play a big part this season,” Ferguson said.

“Last season he made his mark for me by scoring six goals.

“When Paul Scholes was Darron's age, he was getting 15 but playing a lot more games and I like to think if I gave Darron 20 games or so he'd give me 10 goals back.

“Without doubt he's got the ability to be a top player.

“He's got the power, the physique, the shooting ability, everything he needs to be a very good player indeed,” enthused Ferguson before his side jetted back to Manchester ahead of their Community Shield clash with Chelsea this weekend.

High praise indeed. But Gibson, 22, believes he is worth it, and thinks he can prove it for Manchester United this season having failed to nail down a regular first team spot in the last campaign.

“I think this year is even bigger than last year for me,” he said.

“I think I showed everyone what I could do last season.

“I've got one foot in the door and hopefully this year I can kick on and play a lot more games and establish myself.

“Obviously getting the games last year and scoring a few goals settles the nerves a bit and I do feel a lot more comfortable going in there.

“When you go in there first, sometimes you can be overawed by the big players but I've gradually worked my way into the squad and hopefully I can kick on from here and play a lot more.”

Gibson's international career has also been a stop-start one thus far as he played third-choice central-midfielder to Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews in Ireland's doomed World Cup campaign.

But, with Whelan missing out through injury in next Wednesday's friendly with Argentina, Gibson thinks it is a big opportunity for him to stake his claim for a starting berth for the forthcoming European Championship qualification campaign.

“Yeah obviously with Glenn Whelan getting injured during the week I think it gives me a chance to show what I can do so

hopefully everything goes well next week,” he said.

Evans: Gibson has Scholes' ability to score goals

Monday, August 09, 2010 - 12:41 PM

Northern Ireland international Jonny Evans believes the Republic of Ireland's Darron Gibson has the goalscoring ability of Manchester United team mate Paul Scholes.

The United defender said: "He has got that ability to score goals from the middle of the field, you look at Scholes over the years, he brought us that.

"You look at Darron Gibson and he is good at getting into those areas and setting himself up for shots."

However, it took Gibson a while to find his form after loan deals to Royal Antwerp and Wolves which lead to speculation that he might be offloaded from Old Trafford.

But Evans said that Alex Ferguson saw something in Gibson to want to keep him in the squad.

He said: "There is always speculation about players. I think he will admit himself when he went to Wolves, he didn't play as much as he wanted and you automatically think 'you can't get into Wolves' team, then you can't play for Manchester United'.

"The manager (Alex Ferguson) sees different qualities that other managers don't see."