MANCHESTER UNITED will wait until the end of the season before opening contract talks with boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The Red Devils are second in the Premier League, five points behind leaders Manchester City.
But club chiefs want to keep fighting for the title and qualify for the Champions League before Solskjaer is offered a new deal.
The Norwegian has just 16 months left and SunSport understands United could hand him another two-year deal.
They are willing to give Solskjaer, 47, an increase in wages, taking his annual salary to around £6million before bonuses.
But his team have been inconsistent, including a shock recent home loss to Sheffield United.
And on top of their Champions League group stage exit, concerns have been raised.
Solskjaer is set to field a strong side in the FA Cup fifth round clash with West Ham on Tuesday night.
David De Gea is set to be dropped to the bench, with back-up goalkeeper Dean Henderson getting another chance.
The United boss said: “Dean has played well when he’s got the chance. He’s developed his game.
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“He’s working hard on a couple of aspects that we’ve spoken about and I’ve been impressed.
“He wants to play every game because he knows he will perform well.”
United legend Rio Ferdinand believes that despite the club sitting second in the table, they are out of the title race following their draw against Everton.
The former centre-back said: “You can’t defend it. At the end of the day Man Utd were sitting pretty at the top of the league.
“We didn’t come into this season expecting to be title challengers. We were too far behind Liverpool (last season). You can’t expect to have a turnaround that big to win the league, it’s impossible.
“But I’m like all the other fans. You see the league table, you look at the results, you get excited. When you put yourself in that position, Man Utd have to strike. You’re there now and there’s an opportunity.
“When there’s an opportunity you’ve got to go. The problem is we’ve let this opportunity slip through our hands. You can see Man City with their experience, they’ve smelt blood, they’ve put their heads down, they’ve gone.
“But United have stuttered, we’ve got the choke going, haven’t got it quite working properly. We have choked, it’s simple as that.
“I’d put us out of the title challenge unless we go on a run and we change our habits and our lack of consistency.
“But I haven’t seen enough to suggest we can go on a ten, 15-game winning streak. We’re tripping ourselves up all the time. It’s top four, we’ll finish second or third.”
