Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho relaxed about players' futures at the club

The Portuguese manager of the Premier League club said that Manchester United are in control of their players' contracts as they enter their last year, with only Michael Carrick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's contracts due to expire next summer

Jose Mourinho
Mourinho does not envisage any problems with players running down their contracts at Old Trafford Reuters

Jose Mourinho insists Manchester United are "in control" of their players' futures as they club look to trigger extensions for five first-teamers.

Mourinho said in his news conference at Carrington on Friday that only Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Michael Carrick will have decisions to make at the end of the season when both will be out of contract.

Also read: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is disappointed with Andreas Pereira leaving on loan for Spanish side Valencia

Juan Mata, Daley Blind, Ander Herrera, Ashley Young, Luke Shaw and Sam Johnstone have just a season remaining on their United deals, but the Portuguese points to the one-year extension clauses included within them.

"When the club has a one-year option it means they have one more year of contract so nobody is in the last year. The only two players are Zlatan and Carrick." Mourinho said, as per reports from ESPN.

"The two players are in this situation are Zlatan and Carrick - two players that at the end of the season who are going to sit and to analyse what they did and what they want to do.

"All the other players are under the club control until end of the 2018-19 season. We are speaking about June 2019. No player ends his contract."

Jose Mourinho does not envisage any problems with players running down their contracts at Old Trafford, as per Sky Sports.

Juan Mata and Ander Herrera have played important roles at Manchester United since Jose Mourinho's arrival.

Andreas Pereira is the latest player to have signed a new contract, penning a new deal before he moved to Valencia on loan that will keep him at the club until 2019 with the option of another year.

Marouane Fellaini is also out of contract next summer, with United having invoked the extension clause in his deal in January.

Mourinho also seemed to take a dig at Antonio Conte's Chelsea by saying that his Premier League winning side of 2014/15 was the last champion team to play attacking football.

"If you look in a pragmatic way and you see the last winners of the Premier League, they didn't play attacking football. They all played defensive football and counter-attack football."

"We try to play according to the qualities of our players. We try to play positive, we try to play good, but we try to win.

"And if one day to win we have to play defensive football, we have to do it."

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