Man Utd trigger contract extensions for 4 key players

Manchester United have triggered one-year contract extensions for Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Fred and Diogo Dalot to keep all four players at Old Trafford until 2024.

The quartet were due to be out of contract at the end of this season under the main terms of their respective deals. But United have often included 12-month options in deals that can be triggered to give the club extra protection against losing players as free agents.

It now gives United more time to either negotiate longer-term contracts or seek transfer fees.

“I can confirm it,” Ten Hag told MUTV. “We are happy because the squad is going in the right direction and those players [have] a massive contribution in that direction.”

Rashford in particular has been in resurgent form this season, scoring nine goals in all competitions by the time club football paused for the World Cup – almost double his tally for the whole of what had been a disappointing 2021/22 campaign. He then scored three times at the World Cup.

Shaw and Fred have both impressed under Ten Hag, while Dalot has gone from strength to strength after it previously appeared that his United career was destined to fizzle out.

The Portuguese right-back hugely fell out of favour under former United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but has thrived this season after leapfrogging Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the pecking order.

United have a handful of others out of contract at the end of the season, including David de Gea.

90min understands that talks with De Gea are ongoing, with a determination from both parties to maintain strong relations regardless of the outcome. There is still an option in the goalkeeper’s contract but United are not considering using it and any new deal would have to be on significantly reduced wages compared to his current £375,000 weekly pay.

Axel Tuanzebe is also due to be out of contract, as are Phil Jones and Tom Heaton, but there are 12-month options that could be triggered for the latter pair.