With Wes Brown ruled out, and Gary Neville having played a full 90 minutes on Saturday, will Wednesday night bring with it the chance for Rafael Da Silva to appear in teh first team with the other Reds?

Brown has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, which means the right back berth is a straight fight between our Brazilian hero Rafael and veteran Gary Neville.

Wes Brown has welcomed the extra competition for Manchester United's right-back berth from Rafael Da Silva.

At just 18, the Brazilian has already showed immense promise and after making his first European start at Aalborg last month, he also began Saturday's Premier League win over West Brom at Old Trafford.

It is healthy competition," he said. "Rafael is a quality young player and I am sure he is going to be the future for Manchester United.

"Gary Neville and I have been here for donkey's years, so we know it is good for the club.

Sir Alex Ferguson will attempt to sign Brazilian teenager Douglas Costa.

According to the News of the World, Sir Alex Ferguson is determined to sign 18-year-old Costa who currently plays for Brazilian side Gremio.

Any transfer fee for the young Brazilian is likely to be in the region of £20 million which, claims the paper, would leave no funds available to secure a deal for Tevez.

A brand new website has been launched that lets you send messages to the top players, like Rafael and Fabio da Silva, and get guaranteed responses!

Around 100 Premiership footballers have signed up to use www.contacttheplayers.com to respond to fanmail - and they get back to you within a week!

The first message is FREE, and after that its just a quid per message!

If the player isn't signed up, they print the message out and send it to the player at his training ground.

Sounds AMAZING!

Head to www.contacttheplayers.com

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has handed Rafael da Silva a surprise Champions League start.

United face Aalborg BK tonight in Denmark in Europe’s elite club competition, and the Brazilian youngster will now make his first start in the competition with Ferguson naming his starting eleven just moments ago.

Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney are the strikers named, while Cristiano Ronaldo also plays on the wing in what looks like a standard 4-4-2 formation.

Ryan Giggs says Manchester United's young players can be happy with their performance in last night's Carling Cup victory over Middlesbrough.

“As a Manchester United player you know you’ve got the ability, it’s whether you’ve got the temperament, and I thought the young lads, especially Rafael, who came in showed that temperament,” Giggs told MUTV after the match.

“You can freeze. It’s a big stage, Old Trafford, but the young lads did really well. I think from start to finish. We started really well and looked sharp. It was a really good performance.”

Manchester United youngster Fabio da Silva has been forced to undergo a shoulder operation.

Fabio is now undergoing rehabilitation work for an injury that is likely to rule him out for a couple of months.

EURO champions United have added six new names to the list of 25 who will begin the defence of their crown next week against Villarreal.

United have registered the players with UEFA who'll tackle the Euro campaign.

Dimitar Berbatov, Ben Foster, Manucho, Rodrigo Possebon, Fabio Da Silva and Rafael Da Silva have been included.

United can also register a B list involving Under-21s who have been at the club for at least two seasons and they can be played at any time during the Champions League season. Sir Alex Ferguson has registered ten names including Danny Welbeck and Jonny Evans.

For the third time in pre-season, United's Reserves fought back from a two-goal deficit to avoid defeat - this time against Chelsea.

Late strikes from Fabio da Silva and Darron Gibson - the latter from the penalty spot - preserved Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's unbeaten record since taking the second string's helm.

United looked decidedly off-colour in the opening exchanges, and Jacob Mellis beat the Reds' offside trap to slot the hosts ahead just after the half-hour.

Fabio and Rafael da Silva are keeping their feet on the ground after a superb preseason at new club Manchester United.

Rafael starred against Peterborough and Juventus, with Sir Alex Ferguson eulogising over his performances, while Fabio notched 45 minutes at London Road and also scored a stunning goal in the Reserves' win over Northwich Victoria. Neither twin had played a full match in a year, but they were keen to play down their scintillating start to life at United.