Dean Henderson
Henderson turned 25 last month and has had a write-off of a season having briefly been United's first-choice this time last year.
The England international will seek regular playing time in the summer and it remains to be seen whether Erik ten Hag, eager to sign Henderson on loan for Ajax in January, is as keen to have him in goal for United.
David de Gea will regain the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for an unprecedented fifth time next month but his surprising omission from the Spain squad by Luis Enrique has taken some of the sting out of any decision to demote him at club level.
READ MORE: United to wait for Ten Hag on transfers
Full-back(s)
Almost all of United's full-backs are sellable. Alex Telles is a squad player with a short shelf-life, Brandon Williams is open to leaving permanently, Diogo Dalot had offers last summer and United ought to cut their losses of Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Ethan Laird's development has stalled at Bournemouth, where he has barely played on loan, while Marc Jurado and Alvaro Fernandez are still callow.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer coveted Kieran Trippier and United need a playmaking full-back if they are to become a credible force again, but need to make room for any reinforcement on the wing.
Phil Jones
United have two windows left to obtain a fee for Jones, otherwise he would be released on a free at the end of his contract next summer (it is safe to assume the one-year option won't be triggered).
Jones, 30, has started two games in two years but has stayed fit for most of the season and edged ahead of Eric Bailly in the centre-back pecking order.
Eric Bailly
Bailly celebrated his 28th birthday last week with a number of teammates at Zouk restaurant in Manchester and he is as popular as he is peripheral. The Côte d'Ivoire international has played seven club games all season and appeared more often for the national side.
Figures at United are rueing Ed Woodward sanctioning a new contract for Bailly last year when his previous deal was due to expire this year. Bailly threatened to leave if he did not play in the Europa League final and his resentment of Harry Maguire's status in the team is one of the worst-kept secrets in the United dressing room.
Axel Tuanzebe
James Garner is the only undisputed loan success story for United this season. Tuanzebe is the polar opposite, let go early by Aston Villa only to cameo twice for Napoli. The 24-year-old has not played in three months.
Tuanzebe suffered another injury that sidelined him for six weeks in Naples but he has become all-too-accustomed to starting and ending games on the bench.
A United debutant more than five years ago, Tuanzebe's chance may have come and gone.
Donny van de Beek
Van de Beek came to prominence under Ten Hag in the captivating Ajax team that downed Real Madrid and Juventus in the Champions League knockout stage in 2019. Yet Van de Beek's two seasons with United have been such a disaster he has lost his place in the Netherlands squad and was prepared to move to the apparent comfort zone of Everton in August. It is now decidedly uncomfortable at Goodison Park.
United's intention to sign a defensive midfielder, Fred's growing importance and Bruno Fernandes's contract extension would indicate if Van de Beek has a route back at United he will have to bide his time.
The Dutchman has just become a father after his partner, Estelle, gave birth to a baby girl called Lomée, and stability is bound to be essential for a couple who moved to Manchester in the pandemic summer of 2020.
Cristiano Ronaldo
It is a peculiar state of affairs United could be inclined to go off the say-so of an ad hoc coach whose best work was at Hoffenheim, Schalke and RB Leipzig as they mull over Ronaldo's future. That does not render Ralf Rangnick's opinion relevant and he is already phasing out some United careers. It would be churlish to place Ronaldo on the scrapheap with them.
For all the pseudo-intellectual analysis of Ronaldo this season, United have won one of the nine games he hasn't started in and Ronaldo has scored twice as many goals as their next highest scorer. There have been 21 goals in the Premier League and Champions League and more than half of them are winners.
Almost as striking as his first goal against Tottenham was Ronaldo tracking back inside his own area. He is more immobile (which footballer isn't at 37?) but other coaches have succeeded with Ronaldo the 30-something centre forward.
Anthony Martial
The Frenchman eked out eight goals in one-and-a-half seasons before he flew to Seville, where he hitherto has one goal. Martial, 26, has had two good seasons out of seven for United and crumbles whenever faced with competition. Edinson Cavani, signed to keep Martial on his toes, was the latest to trample all over them last season.
"'When he (Rangnick) arrived, my objective was to leave. I told him I wanted to leave and that's it," Martial told journalists last month. United can do without that attitude from a player whose air of entitlement was inflated during Woodward's epoch.
Marcus Rashford
Rashford, 24, is out of contract next year (although United have a plus-one option) but there are few players least deserving on current form of a new contract. Rashford's poor run of form is nearing 18 months and rewarding him or Luke Shaw with a summer renewal would be right out of the United playbook, rather than closing it.
It emerged after the derby last month Rashford was considering his future and elite clubs have registered their interest. It seems inconceivable United, infamously incapable of proactively selling players, could jettison Rashford and Martial in the same summer, particularly as they suddenly have a paucity of stellar options on the flank.
Amad and Facundo Pellistri
One might as well bracket the pair as they signed on the same day and have had a similarly unfulfilling amount of playing time. Pellistri, 20, has embarked on two separate loans with Alaves that have only succeeded in gaining a call-up to the Uruguay squad. It summed his United career up that, while conducting a pitchside interview after scoring in a friendly at Derby, he spoke of his desire to stay. Simultaneously, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opined another loan was advisable.
Amad, 19, has at least played and scored for United but has had an underwhelming season of injury and an unsuccessful loan at Rangers, where his lightweight first-half in the Old Firm defeat at Celtic does not bode well amid Rangnick's insistence United need more physical footballers.
United invested £46million in Pellistri and Amad on deadline day in October 2020 and, with the shortage of right-sided options again, retaining one in the senior set-up would be logical.
Lee Grant, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani are out of contract and all are expected to leave. Nemanja Matic has announced he is leaving. United have agreed the permanent transfer of Andreas Pereira to Flamengo but it has been delayed.
