A noticeably quiet Manchester United are growing increasingly apprehensive of the nightmare scenario of Paul Pogba running down his contract and leaving the club on a free transfer again.
Club officials are only too eager, and verging on being desperate, to convince the £89million midfielder to sign a new contract this summer after having been forced earlier to trigger a 12-month extension in his current deal.
However, according to the Daily Mirror, their attempts to persuade Pogba and his agent Mino Raiola to agree a new deal have become deadlocked.
Pogba told RMC Sport: ‘I have one year of my contract left, everyone knows that. There haven’t been any concrete offers yet. We finished the season, as I said there was the Europa League final (which United lost to Villarreal on penalties), and after that we finished the holidays.
‘We haven’t spoken. I am still at Man Utd, the only thought I have for the future is the Euros. I have a little more experience than before. I really want to focus on the present, and the present is the Euros today.
‘All things about the club, when there are competitions like this, I avoid. That’s why I have an agent, and he takes care of all that.’
The deadlock could have implications for United’s other transfer business.