Manchester United’s marquee midfielder eyeing January exit

Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic is considering leaving the club in January over reduced playing time…

The Telegraph reports that Manchester United’s Nemanja Matic wants to leave the club with the Serbian preferring a possible January exit. Owing to injury and a slight dip in form, Matic has fallen down the pecking order for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in midfield.

Despite Paul Pogba being injured, Matic has found it difficult to break into the starting XI and has not featured for the Red Devils since 3rd October in the away match against AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Europa League which resulted in a draw.

With the Norwegian boss preferring Scott McTominay and Fred in midfield over Nemanja Matic, the former Chelsea man would be willing to depart from the cub if United would permit a mid-season exit. Matic was signed by Mourinho, during his time at Manchester United, in 2017 with his contract expiring in June 2020. The club has an option to extend the players contract by another year keeping him at the club till June 2021.

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Since joining Manchester United, Nemanja Matic has made a total of 92 appearances for the club, however, has featured just thrice in the Premier League this season. With Pogba likely to make a full recovery and return to the squad next month, Matic’s chances of featuring regularly for United seem bleaker.

The Serbian midfielder has attracted interest from a number of clubs in Italy and was even touted to join Inter Milan in the summer but the departures of Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera coupled with the uncertainty surrounding Pogba’s future resulted in Solskjaer opting to refrain from letting Matic leave.

The Serb’s January departure would solely be dependent on Manchester United’s ability to sign a midfielder in January with the club lacking strength in that position.

With Solskjaer opting for a younger squad, the 31-year-old Matic seems to certainly be on his way out of the club. However, if Manchester United decide to exercise the option to extend Matic’s contract by another year, it’ll be just to avoid losing him for free in the summer when his current contract expires.

With an exit from Manchester United looking more certain, where will Nemanja Matic play next season?