Highlights

• Five players look destined to leave Manchester United this summer already.
• This means their last chance to play for the Red Devils will come in the FA Cup final.
• In a major club update, United confirmed that Raphael Varane will be one of the departing players

It has been a disjointed season of uncertainty and inconsistency for Manchester United. In December, after an extended period of drawn-out speculation, it was officially announced that British billionaire, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, had acquired a 25% stake in the club, and with that will likely come significant change.

Injuries have led to Erik ten Hag enduring a frustrating second campaign in the dugout. With two matches remaining of the 2023/24 season, the Red Devils sit 8th in the Premier League, three points adrift of the European spots, although they do face Manchester City in the FA Cup Final later this month.

In a summer of likely overhaul, both on and off the pitch, there are five players who are almost certainly headed for the exit door with their contracts expiring next month.

Jonny Evans

Centre back

Jonny Evans has proven to be an unlikely hero, in a season in which United have had few. A product of United’s academy, Evans made 198 appearances for the first team across nine seasons interrupted by several loans away from the club.

Upon making the permanent move to West Bromwich Albion in 2015, and later Leicester City, Evans himself probably wouldn't have anticipated a return to the Red Devils. However, such was the lack of availability in United’s back line, the club’s decision to bring him back on a short-term deal was sensible, albeit a little desperate.

He has gone on to feature this season far more than anyone would have expected, with his experience and consistency a welcome addition to an otherwise unconvincing defensive unit. It remains to be seen if the club look to negotiate a second one-year deal, so an extension feels unlikely for the 36-year-old.

Raphael Varane

Centre back

Another older head set to depart Old Trafford this summer is Raphael Varane. Given his largely underwhelming and injury-hit spell in the north west, it is easy to forget just what a statement signing the Frenchman was back in 2021. He arrived in Manchester as one of the world’s best defenders. Aged just 28 at the time, and having won the World Cup with France three years prior, Varane was meant to be the answer to United’s long-standing defensive woes.

It never quite happened for the former Real Madrid man however, with injuries playing a significant part in his United story. Indeed, Varane has picked up 11 different injuries which across his three seasons has seen him side lined for over 200 days.

With his contract up this summer, it remains to be seen what the defender’s next step is, but a move away from Manchester has now been confirmed with the club revealing the major story this week.

Anthony Martial

Forward

Varane is not the only Frenchman headed for the exit door this summer, as Anthony Martial, after several seasons of speculation, will see an end to his nine-year stint with the Red Devils – as confirmed by journalist Fabrizio Romano.

Still only just 28, Martial signed from AS Monaco in 2015 in a deal that saw him become the then-most expensive teenager in football history. His United career started in spectacular fashion too, scoring a memorable debut goal against Liverpool that later was selected Premier League Goal of the Month.

At the end of the calendar year, Martial was named Golden Boy, and it looked as if United had themselves the standout attacking talent of his generation. Whilst Martial continued to put together decent runs of form, the Frenchman, in truth, never did live up to the early excitement and expectation surrounding him.

Tom Heaton

Goalkeeper

Another product of the United academy, Tom Heaton has enjoyed a very respectable career at Premier League and Championship level. Heaton’s most notable spell came at Burnley, where he totalled 200 appearances for the Clarets across all competitions between 2013 and 2019, keeping 65 clean sheets and only conceding 225 goals.

In 2021, with Heaton then a free agent, United decided to bring the 38-year-old back to Old Trafford as their third-choice goalkeeper, but with his contract up this summer, Heaton will have to decide if he looks to hang up his boots or offer his services to an English Football League side in need of experience between the sticks.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Despite officially being a senior Manchester United player for eight years across two separate spells, Tom Heaton has only made three appearances for the club, none of which were in the Premier League.

Sofyan Amrabat

Midfielder

After shining for Morocco at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, many had high expectations for Sofyan Amrabat who joined United from Fiorentina on a year-long loan with the option to make the deal permanent. The 27-year-old deep-lying playmaker has failed to have the impact that he and the club would have hoped for, only seeing 773 minutes of action in the Premier League, neither scoring or assisting in any competition this season.

With United in need of a summer window of smart recruitment and strategy in the transfer window taking up Amrabat’s option is out of the picture, Dean Jones told GIVEMESPORT. And so the Dutch-born midfielder is set to return to his parent club at the end of the season.

Contract information and stats via Transfermarkt.