Manchester United could look like a very different club this summer, let alone in a few years' time.
There is bound to be plenty of change at Old Trafford in the summer with a new permanent manager to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the biggest. Yet, the complexion of United's squad will likely look very different as well.
Five players at least — Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Lee Grant — are set to leave the club at the end of the season when their contracts expire. There are also several other players who may look to leave too, due to frustrations over playing time or United's lack of success and potential lack of Champions League football.
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But looking further ahead, United currently have 24 players whose contracts are currently set to expire in the next two years. Some pretty key ones, too. And although for many of them the club does have a safety net in place in the form of one-year extensions, for others they don't and the extension only helps to kick the can further down the road — as has been the case with Pogba this year.
As well as the five other players mentioned, young winger Tahith Chong's contract expires in the summer when he returns from a loan spell at Birmingham. And the following summer, Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford, Fred, Diogo Dalot, Axel Tuanzebe and Phil Jones are all out of contract.
They all have an option for an extra year, although it's not clear if the club would activate it on all of them. There isn't that option for Nemanja Matic, however.
In 2024 it's a similar story. There are options to add a further 12 months to the deals of Anthony Martial, Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Alex Telles, Eric Bailly, James Garner, Brandon Williams, Hannibal Mejbri and Teden Mengi.
However, it's not clear how many of them United would want to keep around for longer and which they would like to release so fresh players can take their place. If they are to be released, then perhaps the club will have to see if they can find a buyer for them in upcoming transfer windows.
Either way, United will have to make decisions on a number of players sooner rather than later. MEN Sport asked fans to give their verdict on each of the 24 players whose current deals expire in the next two years and vote on whether they should be released or have their deals renewed. If more than 50 per cent of voters said a player should get a new deal or extension then they went into the renewed column, anything less and they're in the released column.
At the bottom of the pile on 8.1 per cent, unsurprisingly, is fourth-choice goalkeeper Grant who is more of a coach these days than a player. Juan Mata closely followed him on 9.3 per cent after hardly playing in his final season for the club. Both are expected to leave in the summer.
Phil Jones then comes next on 11.1 per cent with the centre-back potentially looking to leave this summer to resurrect his career after recovering from a horrible run of injuries. Anthony Martial isn't far in front of him with just an 11.4 per cent approval rating after making it clear he wants to leave the club. Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard both sit on around 13 per cent, with both set to depart this year.
Pogba has a bit more support with 24.9 per cent of fans thinking the club should try and renew his contract, but he also seems out the door as soon as the campaign ends. The rest of the released list contains Matic, Bailly, Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Chong and Heaton.
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De Gea and Garner led the way on the renew list, with each getting an 85 per cent approval rating. They were closely followed by Dalot (84.9 per cent), Mengi (83.1 per cent), Shaw (80.8 per cent) and Fred (80.3 per cent). Telles, Rashford, Lindelof and Williams all got less than 75 per cent, though perhaps the biggest shock was Ronaldo.
Voters were split on the Portuguese and only 52.9 per cent of them think he should get his contract renewed before it expires next season.
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