Man Utd will reportedly exercise an option on Eric Bailly’s contract to extend his stay at the club for a further season to avoid losing him on a free.
The 25-year-old joined the Red Devils in 2016 but has been limited to just 74 appearances for the club due to ongoing troubles with injuries.
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Having yet to feature this season due to another setback, it could perhaps raise question marks over his future at Old Trafford with the likes of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof establishing themselves ahead of him in the pecking order.
However, as noted by The Sun, rather sensibly, Man Utd are expected to exercise the option of extending Bailly’s contract for another 12 months in order to dismiss the issue of potentially losing him for nothing next summer when his current deal runs down.
That will ultimately give Bailly another 12 months to prove his worth to the Premier League giants by keeping fit and displacing one of his teammates in the starting XI with good form and consistency, while United can continue to monitor his progression and will be in a stronger position if they perhaps still decide that the best solution is for him to move on.
Time will tell how the situation plays out, but with Bailly able to talk to other clubs from January onwards as things stand, it seems like the smart and obvious thing to do from Man Utd’s perspective to avoid a more imminent threat of seeing the Ivorian international quit the club and leave without a fee being secured to possibly even use on his replacement.
