Sir Alex Ferguson believes Jonny Evans and Rafael Da Silva are set to become stars of the future for Manchester United.

Manchester United currently have a crop of talented youngsters who are set to make the step up to the senior side in the near future. Ferguson is clearly excited by the prospect, especially they demonstrated their abilities with a 3-1 over win Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup.

"We’ve got a group of young players who are doing very well and showing fantastic potential,” Ferguson told Setanta Sports.

"Rafael Da Silva, his brother Fabio, Rodrigo Possebon, Darron Gibson, Jonny Evans and Danny Welbeck are the type of youngsters we’ve always tried to have here in the last 15 years or so.

"They can take over from the younger lads in the squad who will move into the middle-age section and they, in time, become the older players.

"That’s what you call managing change."

The Scot believes Rafael will become a key player in the United side, after his impressive showing against Aalborg.

"Young Rafael is an outstanding talent. He proved that against Aalborg. He’s an attacking player with great belief in himself,” said Ferguson.

Meanwhile, United will be looking to sign Carlos Tevez on a permanent basis, with club officials revealing the deal “would be concluded this year”. The Argentine is keen to extend his stay United, especially after a complicated process in sorting out his ownership rights, which he saw him move to Old Trafford from West Ham on a two-year loan deal.

Even though Tevez has to compete with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov for a place in the starting line-up, he wants to remain at the North-West.

United are also keen for him remain at United, with a spokesman revealing to The Independent that negotiations are already in “advanced stage”.

Said a United spokesman: "David Gill told the papers in South Africa in July that we would hope to conclude a deal with Carlos before the new year.

"That is still our aim. The clocks haven't even gone back yet, so to talk of delays is nonsense. Both the club and Carlos are relaxed about the situation."