Exclusive: Matic reacts to new United contract

The Serbian's new deal with the Reds will see him remain at Old Trafford until June 2023 and, in an exclusive interview with Inside United's Ben Ashby, the 31-year-old reveals his excitement at what the future holds for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's young and improving side...

Firstly Nemanja, congratulations on signing your new contract – how happy are you to be extending your time as a Manchester United player?
“Thank you very much. I’m very happy. Not everyone can sign a contract with Manchester United so I’m very proud of that, especially also for my family. They’re also happy to stay here, they enjoy living in Manchester. We are all happy and very proud and hopefully I can help the team win some trophies and of course to improve.”

With it being such a young team with so much talent, does that make the next few years a really exciting thing to be part of?
“Yeah, of course. We have a young team but we have a few experienced players who try to help the young ones to improve. I think that we have a perfect mix of players and that can help us in the future, for sure.”

You’re in your third season now having played over 100 games for United, do you feel you’ve got a lot to give as a senior player and experienced player to help guide the young ones along?
“Yes I have played a lot of games but I think that especially now the team is in a very good moment. I think it’s the best moment since I came here so I hope that we can still improve and in the years in front of us I hope that we can bring a lot of success to this club and hopefully we will soon be back with our supporters of course.”

Just looking at the immediate future, obviously we’re on a great run of form with another win at the weekend. How confident are you and the team at the moment?
“Yeah, we are very confident. You can see in the last few games that we’ve got a belief that we are going to win. In the last game [against Bournemouth] especially, I was very happy with the team’s reaction to conceding a goal. We didn’t give up, we continued to play our football and before half-time we scored three goals, so that shows a lot about the team right now. Before we had some problems turning the situation when we conceded goals, but I’m very happy with the team reaction and that shows the team is improving and is more mature now and hopefully we continue like that.”

Of course, you also popped up with an assist at the weekend. You rolled the ball into Mason [Greenwood] for his second goal. What does it feel like at the moment, as a midfielder with these great forward players in front of you? Is it great for you?
“Yeah, it’s great. We’re scoring goals, of course, and that’s nice, but it’s always important to keep the ball up front. It’s easier for us then at the back to defend and control the game when we lose the ball. I’m happy that they’re playing with more confidence, most of the time we have the ball so I’m happy for our strikers that they’re keeping the ball, controlling the game and scoring goals. You mentioned Mason, I’m very happy for him. He’s a very young player, but he scores a lot of amazing goals – especially the second one, with his right foot. I’m happy for him, for sure he will be a very important player.”

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