Sir Alex Ferguson negotiated a clause in his final contract as Manchester United manager to guarantee that no player at the club earned more than him.

A solid if not spectacular debut season at the helm has not earned Erik ten Hag quite the same gravitas but the Dutchman is entering the stage of his reign where contract negotiations will be a constant topic of debate.

As the season’s legal endpoint of 30 June hurtles into view, here are the Manchester United players that are poised to become free agents unless discussions can accelerate over the coming weeks.

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The Bayern Munich that Sabitzer left in January will be very different to the one that he could return to this summer. The manager, CEO and sporting director that deemed Sabitzer surplus to requirements during the winter window have all been jettisoned in his absence.

Julian Nagelsmann was gone by March while Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic weren’t officially ushered out of Bavaria until the final day of the Bundesliga season.

Sabitzer has a contract with the German champions until 2025 but hasn’t had any contact during his six-month loan. 90min reported in April that Ten Hag is keen on extending Sabitzer’s stay at the considerably more stable United.

However, sources have now told 90min that Sabitzer is unlikely to join on a permanent deal due to a disagreement over his potential transfer fee.

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Without definitively pinning his colours to De Gea’s wobbling mast, Ten Hag recently revealed that the veteran Spaniard is likely to be United’s first-choice goalkeeper next season.

However, given De Gea’s feeble distribution and capacity for calamity – exposed by a record of committing more errors directly leading to goals across all competitions than any other Premier League keeper this season – United may not offer more than the one-year extension baked into his contract (and preferably on reduced wages).

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Ten Hag has always been generous when talking about Weghorst but the willing worker has offered little outside endeavour. Without a single Premier League goal scored, the 6’6 striker didn’t even provide an airborne presence, recording a worse aerial win rate than Anthony Elanga, Christian Eriksen or the infamously diminutive Lisandro Martinez.

United paid Burnley £2.6m to secure Weghorst’s services for six months on loan in January but are unlikely to lose any more funds on a permanent deal.

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More than a decade after cutting his holiday short to sign for Ferguson as a teenager, United confirmed that Jones would leave at the end of his contract this summer, more than a year since his last competitive appearance.

Jones, who at just 31 is two days older than Casemiro, qualifies for a testimonial but turned down the offer of one last outing at Old Trafford, joking: „Apart from my mum and dad, who else would turn up?“

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Behind De Gea, United’s backup goalkeeper has been a whirling roundabout of loanees. A stroppy Dean Henderson was farmed out to Nottingham Forest in the summer to be replaced by Martin Dubravka. Yet, when Newcastle called the Slovakia international back to St James‘ Park, United had to dip back into the temporary market, plucking out Jack Butland off Crystal Palace’s bench.

The nine-cap England international is also set to be out of contract upon his return to south London but Palace do retain an option to extend his deal by a year. There have been whispers of a move to Scottish giants Rangers, with Butland a junior replacement for 41-year-old Allan McGregor, who is at the end of his deal at Ibrox.

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Heaton has proven to be an able veteran deputy to De Gea this season, filling the Spaniard’s gloves for two Carabao Cup games this season. However, the 37-year-old has been sidelined with an ankle injury since March.

The former United academy product has an option for an extra year at Old Trafford but the club are investigating a younger alternative according to 90min.

Perennial loanee Matej Kovar could be promoted to the first-team roster next season if United opt to divert precious transfer funds towards forward positions this summer. The 22-year-old has supposedly impressed members of United’s hierarchy during a loan spell with Sparta Prague this season but is yet to make a senior appearance for the Red Devils.

With Butland set to depart, Heaton may be kept on for his seniority as much as his shot-stopping.

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LISTEN NOW

On this week’s edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss all the latest transfer news. On the agenda: Tottenham’s pursuit of Feyenoord manager Arne Slot, Bayern Munich’s interest in Declan Rice, Joshua Kimmich, Neymar & more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!