After 19 months on the sidelines, Phil Jones returned for Manchester United in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Burnley on Tuesday.The 29-year-old, who played the final 30 minutes in United’s 3-1 win at Old Trafford, had been out of action since an FA Cup clash against Tranmere in January 2020.Jones has two more years left to run on his Man Utd contract and has no plans to leave the club this summer.The Manchester Evening News recently described Jones as “unsellable” after missing the past year-and-a-half through injury.However, The Daily Mail are reporting that Jones *is* in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans for the 2021-22 season and will be used as the club’s fifth-choice centre-back.
Jones, who earns £130,000-a-week, recently made headlines for reportedly refusing to give summer signing Raphael Varane his No. 4 shirt.Varane will wear the No. 19 shirt instead as Jones aims to prove that he does still have a future at Old Trafford.
Phil Jones is one of United's longest-serving players
It’s quite incredible that Jones has now been a Manchester United player for over 10 years.
The man himself joked in 2019 that he wouldn’t be having a testimonial because, in his words: “Apart from my mum and dad, who else would turn up?”.
But Jones, who was once tipped to become United’s greatest ever player by Sir Alex Ferguson, has still provided fans with plenty of memories down the years.
Phil Jones's bizarre penalty vs Sunderland in 2014
One of the most viewed Phil Jones moments on the internet is this unorthodox penalty during an awful League Cup semi-final shoot-out against Sunderland in January 2014.
Sunderland advanced to the 2013-14 League Cup final thanks to a 2-1 victory over David Moyes’ side in a penalty shoot-out which was described as “slapstick” by BBC Sport at the time.
And Jones’s bizarre penalty was arguably the worst of the lot.
Watch it here…
In fact, the penalty was so woeful that it ended up hitting a United fan flush in the face…
Ouch.
Phil Jones took another penalty for United four years later...
Amazingly, this wasn’t the one and only time that a United manager allowed Jones to take a penalty in a shoot-out.
Four years later, Jones missed the decisive spot-kick as the Red Devils suffered a humiliating defeat to Derby County in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
"We practice penalties and we see it in training and when we get past the sixth penalty I know we're in trouble with [Eric] Bailly and Jones," Jose Mourinho said after the match.
United fans will be praying that Solskjaer doesn’t become the third United manager to leave Jones on the pitch for a penalty shoot-out.
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