Denis Irwin has opened talks with Manchester United on the terms of a new contract which will keep him at Old Trafford for at least another two seasons.

Irwin, 33, whose current contract expires next May, said that he was hopeful that a new agreement will be put in place within a couple of months.

"It's still early days, but I like to think that everything will be sorted out sooner rather than later," he said. "I'm still enjoying the game, still count myself lucky to be playing for a club like Manchester United and with luck I can go on for some time yet."

Irwin, who cost just £700,000 when United signed him from Oldham Athletic in the summer of 1990, has proved one of Alex Ferguson's most astute purchases. Described by Ferguson as the most consistent player at the club over the last eight years, he has had a major input into United's four Premiership and two FA Cup successes in that period.

Additionally, he has been almost ever present in the club's European programme in the '90s. Only Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes have made more European appearances for the club and given the longevity of both those players' careers at Old Trafford, it amounts to remarkable testimony to Irwin's dependability.

"That's been the hallmark of Denis's time at the club," says Ferguson. "But in his own right, he is every bit as important to the team's success as other, perhaps, bigger name players."

The latest of the Irishman's European assignments, against Bayern Munich last Wednesday, ended in some pain when he damaged his nose in an aerial duel, which also left him mildly concussed.

It kept him out of the 2-2 draw with Tottenham at the weekend but the preliminary signs are that he will be back for tomorrow evening's Premiership meeting with Chelsea at Old Trafford.

"My nose is still swollen and I can't breathe through one nostril but neither problem is bad enough to keep me out of the game," he said. "I trained as usual this morning and at this point, I'm looking forward to being in the squad for Wednesday's game."

In contrast to Irwin's success, Alan Moore's season at Middlesbrough has been pretty miserable, but tomorrow evening he hopes to embark on a successful comeback when he turns out for the club's reserve team.

It follows a bad ankle injury, sustained when he went on loan to Barnsley earlier in the season. That was the latest in a long series of setbacks which have blighted a career which promised so much at club and international level.

Significantly, Moore was one of the first of the younger players introduced to the national team on Mick McCarthy's appointment to replace Jack Charlton, when he played in the game against the Czech Republic in Prague.

At the time, it looked like the launch pad for a successful international career. The measure of his misfortune, over the last two years, however, is that his name hasn't appeared on the team sheet since the World Cup game against Iceland at Lansdowne Road in November, 1996.

"More than most, Alan has had his fitness problems and given the high promise of his early games for Ireland, that's a shame," said McCarthy. "He's now got to get his career back on track, but he's young enough, and certainly good enough, to succeed."

With the Barnsley loan ended by mutual agreement, the Dubliner's immediate future lies at Middlesbrough but, obviously, Bryan Robson will be looking for re-assurance that he has now succeeded in putting the worst of his fitness troubles behind him.

A calf muscle injury kept fellow Dubliner Curtis Fleming out of Robson's team for the win over West Ham at the weekend but the likelihood is that he will be available for next Saturday's big meeting with Manchester United.