Turkey's economic success threatened by political instability

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faces his biggest crisis since coming to power following corruption scandal and protests

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan renewed his vow to bring the country into the top 10 world economies by 2023 in a new year speech. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Turkey's strong economic growth over the past decade, bringing relative prosperity to previously neglected parts of the country, has underpinned the popularity of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his mildly Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP).

But the danger of a worsening economy is compounding the instability, essentially political, that has seized the country in the past year, generating the biggest crisis of Erdoğan's 11 years in power – just before local and national elections this year and next.

The crisis threatens the economic gains made by the Erdoğan government: since his AK party came to power in 2002 Turkey's staggering annual inflation rate of up to 100% has been brought down to single digits, while GDP has risen by more than 45% in real terms.

The tamed inflation and the accompanying economic stability brought the long neglected country to the attention of international investors and global finance, winning Turkey its first investment-grade credit ratings in two decades.

Backed by conservative and highly entrepreneurial businessmen sometimes called the "Anatolian Tigers", the AKP won three elections on a ticket of continuous growth and a promise of increasing prosperity for Turks, as well as an appetite for an open market economy and globalised business, leading to a decade of growth with annual rates of more than 4%.

But Turkey's political stability, until recently the country's most prized asset, is in peril after the eruption of a corruption scandal that led to the resignation of four cabinet ministers and, some say, may unseat the prime minister. It followed a summer of street unrest that also shook Erdoğan's international credibility.

"Political stability was the cornerstone of the government's political and economic success," said Asaf Savas Akat, an economist and professor at Bilgi University in Istanbul. "This crisis might shake the confidence of economic actors and lead to considerably slower growth in an already more difficult economic environment."

The allegations of corruption, bribery and tender-rigging implicating members of the AKP call into question the party's claims to "purity" – the translation of the Turkish word "ak" – and government promises to end illicit practices and corruption. While the investigations triggered a record low of the Turkish lira and a huge sell-off of Turkish stocks, Akat warned against alarmism: "The exchange rate does not reflect economic policies per se, but rather psychological trends," he said. "It tells us more about how people read the crisis."

He underlined that it was too early to make predictions about the country's long-term economic outlook. "There has always been political noise during the past decade, but the fundamentals have essentially stayed the same. But the crisis we are now witnessing is entirely unprecedented and we don't know how it will be resolved.

"The number of possible scenarios is infinite and as long as we don't know in which direction this is going, we cannot say what the medium- and long-term impact on the Turkish economy will be."

The Turkish government remains defiant in the face of the burgeoning crisis. "Turkey's macroeconomic fundamentals [are] strong. [The] banking sector is healthy. Strong public finances provide significant room to respond [to] shocks," the finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, tweeted on 28 December.

In his new year's speech, Erdoğan renewed his goal to bring the country into the top 10 world economies by 2023, the year of the republic's centennial.

From the point of view of the ruling party, the timing of the crisis could not be worse: local elections are scheduled for March followed by the country's first direct presidential election in August and general elections next year. Turkey is in the most volatile and unpredictable political period since Erdoğan came to power. But his prospects of surviving the turmoil may yet rest on public perceptions of economic success and transparency.

Seyfettin Gürsel, head of BETAM at Bahçesehir University, said that electoral support for the AKP might decline in the light of the corruption scandal, but the outcome of elections was difficult to predict.

"If the AKP's vote in March falls below 43% [from 50% in general elections in 2011], it will be very difficult for Erdoğan to secure the majority necessary for his presidential election and the constitutional changes that would install a presidential government in Turkey."

Kazakh billionaire to be extradited over alleged £3bn fraud, French court rules

Lawyer warns Mukhtar Ablyazov faces torture if sent back to Kazakhstan to face charges he says are politically motivated

Kazakh billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov's wife Alma and daughter Madina in the court where the extradition hearing was taking place in Aix-en-Provence, France. Photograph: Claude Paris/AP

Mukhtar Ablyazov, the Kazakh billionaire accused of stealing £3bn who went on the run after being found guilty in Britain of lying to a court about his ownership of a £17m mansion on London's "billionaires' row", will be extradited to Russia or Ukraine, a French court ruled.

Ablyazov, 50, who is accused of embezzling £3bn from the state-owned Kazakh bank BTA, was found guilty of contempt of court in London for trying to hide more than £34m of assets, including Carlton House, his seven-bedroom home on The Bishops Avenue, and an £18m 100-acre estate near Windsor called Oakland Park. A high court judge sentenced him to 22 months in prison in February 2012, but he fled the country before he could be jailed.

Private detectives tracked him down last summer to a villa on the French Riviera by tailing his friend Olena Tischenko, a Ukrainian lawyer, from the Royal Courts of Justice in London to the south of France.

The detectives, working for BTA, which he allegedly defrauded when he was chairman, followed her as she took a taxi to Heathrow airport and a flight to Nice.

She was picked up by a chauffeur and driven in a white Land Rover to her home near Cannes where she switched cars to a grey Land Rover at 2.30am and drove to the six-bed Villa Neptune in Miramar on the coast between Nice and Marseille. Inside they spotted Ablyazov in his underwear.

Ablyazov was transferred to a third villa, the Chemin de Castellaras in Mouans-Sartoux, where the private detectives called in a police helicopter and 12 gendarmes disguised as gardeners to storm the property and arrest him.

Since then he has been in prison in Aix-en-Provence while the court decided whether to extradite him – he is wanted in Britain, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

The court ruled on Thursday that Ablyazov, who had been granted political asylum in the UK in 2011, should be extradited to Ukraine or Russia, with a preference for Russia. Kazakhstan does not have an extradition treaty with France.

Ablyazov denies the charges, which he claims are politically motivated. His lawyers said he would appeal against a "patently flawed decision" that "drapes French justice in shame".

Peter Sahlas, who represents Ablyazov's family, said: "This court wants to send Ablyazov, a refugee, straight to the very people he should be protected from.

"All human rights groups warn against his extradition over fears he will be tortured. Ultimately he will be sent to Kazakhstan and mistreated.

"He will not be able to get a fair trial – he will be tortured in Kazakhstan; he will be tortured in Ukraine; he will be tortured in Russia."

Amnesty International said: "Not only do we have fears that Ablyazov would not get a fair trial in Russia or Ukraine, there is the real danger that he will eventually end up in Kazakhstan, where he will be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. The French authorities must not send Ablyazov to any country where he will face serious human rights violations or be forced back to Kazakhstan."

The French prosecutor said the court made a condition of his extradition that Ablyazov would not be sentenced to forced labour.

Alma Shalabayeva, Ablyazov's wife, said: "For my husband, extradition is a death sentence. If he is extradited, he will never see me, or our four children, ever again."

Last year, Shalabayeva and the couple's six-year-old daughter, Alua, were abducted in Rome by the Kazakh ambassador and deported on a private jet to Kazakhstan, paid for by the Kazakh embassy. Theyreturned to Rome with the assistance of the Italian authorities last month.

"My husband has sacrificed everything in his fight for democracy and reform in Kazakhstan. He has lost his wealth, he has lost his freedom, and he has been cut off from his family," Shalabayeva said.

"He is fighting a malicious regime that wants to destroy him, to kill any hope for democratic change. France is a country of democracy. France is supposed to be a country of human rights. France cannot help the regime in Kazakhstan to destroy my husband."

Chris Hardman, a lawyer for BTA, said: "The decision to extradite Mr Ablyazov to stand trial for at least some of his many frauds on BTA Bank should assist the bank in its recovery efforts.

"The extradition will greatly limit his ability to continue to launder the proceeds of his wrongdoing. It also demonstrates once again that Mr Ablyazov's repeated attempts to portray himself as being pursued by the bank for political reasons are groundless; he is merely being required to answer for the billions of dollars that were taken from BTA and its creditors

Natural resources and sensible leaders bring high hopes for Indonesia

The deficit is high and a mineral export ban could make things worse – but there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful in Jakarta

A miner sprays water over tin ore to create a slurry for sluicing on Bangka island in Indonesia. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty

A political tussle over Indonesia's formidable mineral exports goes a long way towards illustrating the political risks of doing business in Indonesia.

On 12 January the country is due to enact legislation that will ban exports of unprocessed mineral ore, following the passing of a law in 2009. The ban is one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's landmark economic reforms. But with Sunday's deadline looming, last-minute exemptions are still being argued over.

The tussle between those who want Indonesia to benefit more from its mineral wealth and those who worry about the long-term impact of export controls reveals the growing wave of nationalism, in the runup to this year's elections, that has prodded lawmakers to take more control of the country's vital resource sector. Oil, gas coal and minerals are the government's top revenue earners.

The bigger picture remains fairly benign. Indonesia tends to be blessed with capable policymakers. Agus Martowardojo, the central bank governor, is credited with minimising the fallout of the US Federal Reserve's decision to wind back its monetary stimulus through currency swaps with other regional central banks and stricter capital adequacy rules for the country's lenders. The finance minister, Chatib Basri, has won praise for beating back protectionists in cabinet by killing off ill-advised import quotas that caused the prices of beef and vegetables to soar by more than half during the first five months of 2013.

"Bad times make for good policy," he told journalists late last year. "We have to rethink protectionism."

While growth may be slowing, Indonesia will experience an increase of almost 6% this year underpinned by a rising consumer class. And for only the third time this sprawling country of more than 240 million people will directly elect a president when it goes to the polls in July.

By then, the impact of the mineral export ban will be more apparent.

In August the government required all tin produced in Indonesia to first be sold on a domestic exchange, in a bidan effort to unseat the London Metals Exchange supremacy when it comes to trading the metal. In early 2012, the government unexpectedly halved to 10 years the time foreign-owned projects must sell a majority stake to local investors.

The ban is expected to slash production of nickel by 80%. Production of bauxite, used to make aluminium, will slump by 98%, the ministry for energy and mineral resources has warned.

Indonesia can ill afford to lose the export earnings. The country's current account deficit is stubbornly high. It narrowed to $8.5bn (£5.20bn) in September after reaching a record $10bn in the three months from June. Balance of payments issues and nationalistic policies such as the ban saw the rupiah fall more than 20% against the US dollar last year.

NSA and GCHQ activities appear illegal, says EU parliamentary inquiry

Civil liberties committee report demands end to indiscriminate collection of personal data by British and US agencies

NSA and GCHQ operations have shaken trust between countries that considered themselves allies, the report says. Photograph: Alex Milan Tracy/NurPhoto/Corbis

Mass surveillance programmes used by the US and Britain to spy on people in Europe have been condemned in the "strongest possible terms" by the first parliamentary inquiry into the disclosures, which has demanded an end to the vast, systematic and indiscriminate collection of personal data by intelligence agencies.

The inquiry by the European parliament's civil liberties committee says the activities of America's National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart, GCHQ, appear to be illegal and that their operations have "profoundly shaken" the trust between countries that considered themselves allies.

The 51-page draft report, obtained by the Guardian, was discussed by the committee on Thursday. Claude Moraes, the rapporteur asked to assess the impact of revelations made by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, also condemns the "chilling" way journalists working on the stories have been intimidated by state authorities.

Though Snowden is still in Russia, MEPs are expected to take evidence from him via video-link in the coming weeks, as the European parliament continues to assess the damage from the disclosures.

Committee MEPs voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to have Snowden testify, defying warnings from key US congressmen that giving the "felon" a public platform would wreck the European parliament's reputation and hamper co-operation with Washington.

While 36 committee members voted to hear Snowden, only two, both British Conservatives, voted against. It is not clear yet whether Snowden will testify. If he does, it will be via a live video-link rather than pre-recorded as initially planned.

"Snowden has endangered lives. Inviting him at all is a highly irresponsible act by an inquiry that has had little interest in finding out facts and ensuring a balanced approach to this delicate issue," said Timothy Kirkhope, the Conservative MEP. "At least if Snowden wants to give evidence, he will now have to come out of the shadows and risk his location being discovered."

The Lib Dem MEP Sarah Ludford denounced the Conservative position. "To ignore [Snowden] is absurd. The issue of whether the intelligence services are out of control merits serious examination in Europe as in the US. The Tories' ostrich-like denial is completely out of step with mainstream opinion in both continents, including Republicans in the US and Merkel's centre-right party in Germany. But their line is consistent with the obdurate refusal of Conservatives at Westminster to clarify and strengthen safeguards on snooping by GCHQ."

The Moraes draft describes some of the programmes revealed by Snowden over the past seven months – including Prism, run by the NSA, and Tempora, which is operated by GCHQ.

The former allows the NSA to conduct mass surveillance on EU citizens through the servers of US internet companies. The latter sucks up vast amounts of information from the cables that carry internet traffic in and out of the UK.

Delivering 116 findings and recommendations, the report says western intelligence agencies have been involved in spying on "an unprecedented scale and in an indiscriminate and non-suspicion-based manner". It is "very doubtful" that the collection of so much information is only guided by the fight against terrorism, the draft says, questioning the "legality, necessity and proportionality of the programmes".

The report also:

• Calls on the US authorities and EU states to prohibit blanket mass surveillance activities and bulk processing of personal data,

• Deplores the way intelligence agencies "have declined to co-operate with the inquiry the European parliament has been conducting on behalf of citizens",

• Insists mass surveillance has potentially severe effects on the freedom of the press, as well as a significant potential for abuse of information gathered against political opponents,

• Demands that the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands revise laws governing the activities of intelligence services to ensure they are in line with the European convention on human rights, and

• Calls on the US to revise its own laws to bring them into line with international law, so they "recognise the privacy and other rights of EU citizens."

The draft, still to be voted on by the chamber, has no legal force and does not compel further action, but adds to the growing body of criticism and outrage at the perceived intelligence abuses.

Separately, the European parliament has drafted new legislation curbing the transfer of private data to third countries outside the EU and setting stiff conditions for the information transfers. But hopes of getting the new rules into force before elections for the parliament in May are fading because of resistance from the UK and EU governments.

"This is a tough issue, even thorny," Greece's justice minister, Charalampos Athanasiou, told the Guardian. Greece took over the running of the EU for six months this week. "There are different views in the member states. I can't be sure about being successful."

Moraes condemns the way the Guardian was forced to destroy the Snowden files it had in London, and says the detention at Heathrow of David Miranda, the partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, constituted "an interference with the right of freedom of expression" under article 10 of the European convention on human rights.

The report is also highly critical of the data exchange scheme Safe Harbor, which allow swaps of commercial information between US and European companies. The draft also questioned the Swift scheme supplying European financial transactions information to the Americans to try to block terrorist funding and the supply of information on transatlantic air passengers.

The European commissioner Viviane Reding says the Safe Harbor scheme is flawed and may need to be frozen.

She wants to make it harder for the big US internet servers and social media providers to transfer European data to third countries. She also wants to subject the firms to EU law rather than secret American court orders.

The Moraes report says the web companies taking part in Safe Harbor have "admitted that they do not encrypt information and communications flowing between their data centres, thereby enabling intelligence services to intercept information".

He calls for the suspension of information sharing until companies can show they have taken the all necessary steps to protect privacy.

The report calls on the European commission to present by this time next year an EU strategy for democratic governance of the internet, and warns there is currently "no guarantee, either for EU public institutions or for citizens, that their IT security or privacy can be protected from intrusion by well-equipped third countries or EU intelligence agencies".

It adds: "Recent revelations in the press by whistleblowers and journalists, together with the expert evidence given during this inquiry, have resulted in compelling evidence of the existence of far-reaching, complex and highly technologically advanced systems designed by US and some member states' intelligence services, to collect, store and analyse communication and metadata of all citizens around the world on an unprecedented scale and in an indiscriminate and non-suspicion-based manner."

Australian Open 2014: Novak Djokovic hopes Becker can help him retain title

The world No2 is confident that he can improve this season with the influential German in his corner to improve his pressure-play

Novak Djokovic won in straight sets in a warm-up match for Melbourne with Juan Mónaco at the Kooyong Classic. Photograph: William West/Getty Images

They are scrambling still for the final wildcards and qualifying spots for the Australian Open but, while the favourites limber up in relative peace, there is no sense that a bright new talent is about to burst on to Rod Laver Arena and capture everyone's imagination in the first slam tournament of the season.

The sun shone hard in Melbourne – and will burn more intensely over the next few days – as the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, eased himself back into competition with an impressive workout against the Argentinian Juan Mónaco, winning 7-5, 6-1 at Kooyong, which last hosted the championship in 1986.

The Serb remembered the date, which pleased patrons. If anyone is to stop the title-holder, he will have to find more than Mónaco did in this exhibition match. Djokovic looks refreshed and dangerous. Most bookmakers have made him favourite, although there is a lot of support for Rafael Nadal, coming off what might be the greatest comeback year of all time.

It is interesting that Djokovic chose not to enter the competition proper at Kooyong, preferring the reduced pressure of a glorified hit-out. He was, by his own admission, tired at the end of 2013. He looks a different player now. "You don't get points and it doesn't really count winning or losing the match but, of course, you want to win," Djokovic said.

The world No2 – a ranking he hates – has Boris Becker on board in his training regime now, but the German was nowhere to be seen at courtside. Djokovic said: "I'm really glad to have Boris in my team as my head coach.

"I sincerely hope that he can bring that mental edge because he recognises the situations that a top player is facing during the grand slams and the pressures and expectations and the clutch moments. That's what we hope to work on and improve the most and a couple of other elements in my game, like my serve."

Elsewhere, what we have seen over the past couple of days has been a dignified and familiar filleting of the last few aspirants.

Sayonara, then, Dan Evans. When Bernard Tomic, no scion of the establishment, earlier in the week dismissed the Australian Open ambitions of his supposed rebel soulmate (who dumped him out of the US Open last year in a match illuminated by lovely exchanges), it transpired he was not being facetious.

Evans confirmed the Australian's suspicions by folding meekly in the second set of his final qualifying effort in Melbourne on Friday against Marton Fucsovics and did no more than give life to doubts that he lacks the iron soul to convert promising early form into proper trophies.

This may or may not be fair. Evans has not lost his gifts, but neither since beating Tomic at Flushing Meadows when he reached an unprecedented peak in 2013, has he made best use of them. On Thursday, Fucsovics, a 6ft 2in Hungarian rated 182 in the world, teased Evans on to impossible drop shots and lovely lobs, giving up just five games in a minute under an hour. He aced the Englishman five times and won 20 more points, a conclusive hammering in a 6-4, 6-1 scoreline.

It was the sort of performance with which the loser could identify. Yet again, he must withdraw to lick his wounds and perhaps return with more conviction. Opportunities might soon evaporate, though.

Tomic, meanwhile, is turning up the volume. He looks and sounds menacing, and his game is reaching a pleasing peak in Sydney, where he is defending his first Tour title, the Apia International. What a curious player he is: beforehand, he expressed trepidation about hanging on to the belt with so much pressure bearing down on him as champion; here he played with the relaxed aggression of an underdog against the Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and won 6-4, 6-3.

Nobody is having an easy time qualifying for the main draw, which says a lot about the depth of the game. David Ferrer, waiting for Andy Murray to falter just in front of him in the rankings, ground out his 14th win on the spin this season, beating Spain's Guillermo García-López 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in less than two hours in Auckland.

Britain's Heather Watson took only 78 minutes to beat the Russian Arina Rodionova 6-4, 6-3 in Melbourne to stay in the equation for the championship, and Johanna Konta beat the American Grace Min for the loss of only three games.

Tara Moore, who will join Robson and Watson in the Federation Cup for Great Britain, was bagelled before giving Japan's Erika Sema a better losing argument in the second.

Michael Schumacher at critical stage in treatment for head injury

Michael Schumacher, who suffered serious head injuries while skiing off-piste in the French Alps, is in intensive care at the University Hospital of Grenoble Photograph: Olycom SPA/REX

Doctors have reached a critical stage in their treatment of Michael Schumacher who suffered a serious head injury while skiing off-piste at the Méribel resort in the French Alps.

The former Formula One motor racing champion has been moved to an intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Grenoble where the priority is to prevent a dangerous build-up of pressure in his brain. Severe swelling stops blood flowing into the brain and starves it of oxygen, causing damage that can be fatal.

Schumacher was able to speak directly after the accident, but became agitated and fell into a coma soon after he arrived at Grenoble by air ambulance. He is now under anaesthetic to keep him in a coma and give his brain the best chance of recovery. Doctors performed emergency surgery on Schumacher to remove a blood clot that was pressing on his brain. They are now keeping him in a state of hypothermia, which cools the brain to 34 to 35C, to reduce pressure caused by the swelling of his brain.

Peter Andrews, professor of intensive care at Edinburgh University, who is leading the world's largest trial of hypothermia to reduce brain pressure, said a head injury that was severe enough to cause a coma was fatal in about 25 to 30% of cases, though other experts said the figure was closer to 15%.

"The problem with any acute brain injury is that the brain is a very delicate organ. The skull cannot expand, so when the brain swells, the pressure goes up, and it constricts its own blood supply. It cuts the oxygen to the brain and worsens the damage, and that could potentially kill him," he said.

Brain scans showed that Schumacher suffered bruising on both sides of his brain. Whether the damage is permanent, and how severe it may be, will be clear only once he has come out of coma and doctors can assess his condition more fully.

To induce hypothermia, doctors inject patients with saline solution chilled to 4C. The patients are covered with a cooling blanket to hold them at a few degrees below normal body temperature. The cooling lowers the brain's demand for oxygen, which in turn reduces the volume of blood flowing into the organ. Cooling may also reduce inflammation in the brain.

But the swelling may not reach its peak for a few days yet. If doctors cannot control the pressure by cooling alone, they may perform an operation called decompressive craniectomy, which removes a large section of bone from the front or side of the skull to relieve pressure on the brain. The procedure is controversial, though, and can cause patients more harm than good.

"The goal now is to control the brain pressure, that is the critical stage they are at," said Peter Hutchinson, a reader in neurotrauma at Cambridge University. Inducing hypothermia puts patients at greater risk of infections, especially chest infections, which intensive care staff will be watching for. The next 48 to 72 hours would be crucial for Schumacher's recovery, Hutchinson said.

When Schumacher's brain pressure returns to normal, doctors can start to warm him up again. This is done very slowly, at about 0.25C per hour, to avoid the brain swelling up again. Doctors can then stop administering the anaesthetic that is keeping him in a coma and wait to see if he comes round.

Manchester United players raise concerns over David Moyes credentials

• Fears in dressing room over Champions League qualification
• Three straight losses leave questions over manager's changes

David Moyes saw his Manchester United side lose 2-1 to Sunderland in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

David Moyes faces a fight to convince several senior Manchester Unitedplayers of his credentials following the dismal form that has resulted in three consecutive defeats for the first time in 13 years.

The Guardian can reveal that some within the dressing room are unsure of Moyes's ability to reverse a sequence that includes a league defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, being knocked out of the FA Cup by Swansea City, and Tuesday's 2-1 loss at Sunderland in the League Cup semi-final, first leg.

The Football Association, in addition, is looking into Moyes's remark after the tie at Sunderland that we are "playing referees as well as the opposition". The manager could face a charge if it is viewed he was commenting on match officials' fairness.

When Moyes was appointed as Sir Alex Ferguson's successor at the close of last season he brought in his own coaches – Steve Round, Phil Neville, Chris Woods, and Jimmy Lumsden, and also appointed Ryan Giggs – while discarding the existing backroom staff of René Meulensteen, Mike Phelan and Eric Steele.

This move is being privately questioned by some within the squad who were happy working with a group that had helped Ferguson oversee part of the most successful period in United's history. According to well-placed sources, there is a bemusement among a number of players, with a strong sense forming that as United won the title by 11 points last term there was little need for Moyes to undergo a complete revamp of a set-up that had a proven winning structure.

Moyes has never won a major trophy as a manager and, for some, his record is now under scrutiny, given the team are 11 points behind the leaders, Arsenal, and have scant chance of retaining the title. There is further concern that United may fail to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1995-96, with the side in seventh position, five points behind fourth-placed Liverpool.

While there is no sense of a player mutiny at present, this week's revelation that the club captain, Nemanja Vidic, is exploring leaving this summer, despite United wishing to open discussions over a new deal, is the latest crack in unity.

Before the defeat at Sunderland, in which Vidic scored United's equaliser, his agent, Silvano Martina, told an Italian radio station: "At the moment, I would rule out an extension [to his contract] with Manchester United."

Vidic's disquiet follows Danny Welbeck's denial of the claim last month by Moyes that the manager had to instruct the striker to be "the last off the training field" in order to improve. Within days the player offered a counter-view. "I have been doing that [extra training] ever since I have been at United," he said.

Earlier in December Rio Ferdinand publicly questioned Moyes's policy of naming the team close to a match, rather than the day before, as Ferguson did, stating it could turn the defender "into a madman".

Moyes's pursuit of Leighton Baines to replace Patrice Evra has not gone down well either, given the left-back's popularity in the dressing room. As with Vidic, the Frenchman may consider his options as he is out of contract in the summer.

All of this means that following the loss of the three matches in seven days, some senior players who were serial winners have been left uncertain about the direction of the club under Moyes.

After the defeat at Sunderland Welbeck became the first to voice concern regarding prospects of qualifying for next season's Champions League. Asked if he could understand why supporters are worried United may finish outside of the top four, he said: "I can understand why fans are concerned. We are not around the Champions League spots at the moment. We need to get our form back and just win the next matches."

The striker is unsure why after clinching the title last season United are so far adrift of Arsenal. "I cannot pinpoint one thing why this is happening. We were champions last season and we know that the consistency in our game has not been good enough," said Welbeck. "It is a new experience for us all but the main thing we have to do is look at the next game."

He did state a determination to start winning games. "It is over 10 years since United lost three games in a row, so we know we have to turn it round and win the next match. The manager is very upbeat. He lets the players know he wants to do really well and the players also want to win games for United," he said. "Losing three on the bounce is really not good enough and we want to put that right."