For all of Manchester United’s protestations over the need to secure value for their money in the last transfer window, it is a wonder why the Reds have been careless enough to allow Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Ashley Young to fall into the open season for pre-contract agreements elsewhere.
The trio entered the final six months of their Old Trafford deals on January 1 and, as such, are free to thrash out terms with foreign clubs, which leaves the real possibility of all three players leaving without compensation when the season ends.
It is an issue that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp knows only too well, with the Germany midfielder Emre Can seeing out his Anfield contract last season to secure a move to Serie A giants Juventus without so much as a penny heading Liverpool’s way in exchange for one of their more valuable assets.
It is just as well, then, that Herrera and Mata are known in private to be committed to extending their stays at Old Trafford, despite the latter casting doubt over his future on Thursday of this week.
The Spanish pair might not be in the Paul Pogba stratum of marketability at Old Trafford but the value of their contributions on the pitch cannot be understated.
Mata has created more chances per minute than any other United player to play over 30 games since David Moyes signed the 30-year-old five years ago this month, and Herrera has proven his worth under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer by allowing Pogba to show the form of a man to whom France owe a considerable portion of their second World Cup trophy.
The doubt over Mata, Herrera and Young could have been avoided, of course, had a director of football been in place to oversee the squad’s continuity between managerial reigns. The club are known to be preparing the land for the introduction of such a role and it is with baited breath that United fans will wait to see whether the lack of one this season bites the club on the bottom.
Even at 29 and 30 years old respectively, a like-for-like replacement for both Herrera and Mata would cost the club north of £60 million in the summer but, more pressingly, allowing respected members of United’s squad to enter the final six months of their deals hardly breads confidence of the club’s desire to retain their services.
David De Gea and Anthony Martial had the option for year-long extensions in their contracts triggered by the club earlier this season but the trio who can already look elsewhere should take command just as high a priority in the Old Trafford boardroom this month to avoid another transfer-related blow.