Erik ten Hag has contract decisions to make on five Manchester United stars

While Erik ten Hag is, at the minute, focused solely on guiding Manchester United to a respectable position in the Premier League table and ensuring the club is progressing in Europe, he will, at some point soon, have to start thinking about the Reds players who are out of contract at the end of the season.

A total of 10 players could leave for nothing in the summer - though, as is club policy, they do hold the option to extend the deals of most by a further 12 months. How many of those the Dutchman plans to keep remains to be seen, and a number of futures remain up in the air.

One of the players out of contract is David De Gea. While boasting a host of impressive qualities, he has never been overly confident with the ball at his feet. In the Spaniard's defence, he has not played in a United side where he was required to - until this season, that is.

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During his time with Ajax, Ten Hag liked his goalkeeper to turn defence into attack, and quickly. It has been clear this season that the club simply do not have a goalkeeper who is able to do that. The debate around the importance of De Gea's distribution skills has somewhat divided supporters, but if the Reds boss wants his shot-stopper to possess the ability to make long passes, then it is vital that the club support him with that.

Ten Hag, speaking during his press conference ahead of the clash against Tottenham, insisted that the club were yet to make a decision on De Gea's contract situation.

"We didn’t make a decision on him but what I can say is I’m really happy with David de Gea as a ‘keeper. The first two games of the season were not his best performances but after it, you see he