Gary Neville thinks Manchester United need to start protecting the value of their players by taking contract renewal “decisions away from a manager”.
Ander Herrera showed his value again on Sunday as Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw at home by fellow top-four challengers Chelsea.
The Spaniard’s contract runs out in the summer and French champions Paris Saint-Germain have been heavily linked with him.
And Neville thinks United should have made a decision a lot earlier on whether they wanted to keep Herrera at the club or not.
“I think the situation with him [Herrera] is that he’s not likely to disrespect the club, he’s been a brilliant professional here for the last few years,” Neville said during the match against Chelsea.
“But all the speculation about him going to Paris Saint-Germain.
“Manchester United have allowed his contract to run down. If they wanted him, maybe they should have made the decision a little earlier.
“I think the other thing with Manchester United as well is that when you’ve got a change in manager every 18 months or two years, you might have one manager who fancies him, and another manager who says don’t renew the contract.
“And then a new manager comes in but it’s too late then and the player’s contract has run down.
“That’s why you need a club plan to take these sorts of decisions away from a manager. To enable the player to be protected and the value to be protected.”