Eric Bailly has 15 months left on his present contract and has grown increasingly frustrated at his lack of game time under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; Over the weekend he told friends he believes he will never be a first-choice defender for Solskjaer
Monday 22 March 2021 15:38, UK
Eric Bailly fears Manchester United are offering him a new contract simply to guarantee a bigger transfer fee for him in the summer.
The Ivory Coast international has 15 months left on his present contract and has grown increasingly frustrated at his lack of game time under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Talks over a new deal earlier this month looked to have found an agreement.
However, despite playing in the Europa League first leg against AC Milan, the 26-year-old defender did not feature in United's away win in Italy last week - seemingly the last straw in convincing Bailly that his future may lie away from Old Trafford.
Bailly has now not featured in United's last three matches.
Over the weekend he told friends he believes he will never be a first-choice defender for Solskjaer and that the club only want him to sign a contract extension so he will be more valuable in this summer's transfer market.
A friend of the defender has told Sky Sports News: "Eric loves the club and the fans, his family are settled in Manchester and he'd like nothing more than to spend the rest of his career at Old Trafford.
"But he feels the club has been very disrespectful towards him and frankly he's had enough.
"He feels that no matter what he does, he will never be first choice for Ole.
"He now realises he's too good and too young to spend his time sitting on the bench."
Defeat to Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals means Manchester United have missed out on a great opportunity to win a trophy this season, with their priority now to ensure they finish as close to champions-elect Manchester City as possible, says Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.
Solskjaer made five changes at the King Power Stadium, only for the visitors to suffer a disappointing 3-1 loss that now means their only chance of silverware this season is the Europa League.
Neville was surprised by Solskjaer's changes at Leicester, especially given the winners of that tie faced Southampton in the semi-finals, and he has now urged United to finish the season strongly by winning the Europa League and finishing as near to City in the final league standings as possible...
It had been a good week. Not surprising that they go to Milan and did what they did, they are good away from home, then beating West Ham last week.
I'm surprised the team was weakened against Leicester, I'm surprised he rotated as much, I know he has been doing that, but this was a real chance. If you think the semi-final draw that occurred at half-time of that game which meant the winner of the Leicester vs Manchester United tie would play Southampton.
And you just thought… It is not a gimmie against Southampton by any stretch of the imagination, but what an opportunity and I genuinely believe that that group of players need to win a trophy under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
