Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes uncertainty surrounding Ander Herrera might have 'worried' the Manchester United midfielder as he faces another lay-off.
Herrera, who is approaching the last two months of his United deal, is understood to have agreed a pre-contract agreement with Paris Saint-Germain amid a lack of communication from United in recent months. The 29-year-old has missed United's last two defeats to Wolves and Barcelona with a thigh muscle injury and is set to miss the next three games against West Ham, Barca and Everton.
Solskjaer has already seen one midfielder leave on his watch after he sanctioned the sale of Marouane Fellaini to Shandong Luneng earlier this year. The United manager has emphasised he wants to keep Herrera but was unable to provide a positive update on Herrera's future or fitness.
"He's been working really hard to get fit from his injury that he sustained against Liverpool in February," Solskjaer said. "Then he came back and got a different one here in training.
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"He's been really putting a lot of work in and unfortunately that's come at a time of, as you say, there are contract talks but that's ongoing. I can't really comment too much on how far they have come down the line and what he's deciding. You have to ask him [about his future]. I don't know how they've been the last few talks.
"But we've let him focus on his fitness as well. He loves to play so he's not very happy when he can't help his teammates and he's always giving his all, it doesn't matter if he's got five years left on his contract or five weeks.
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"You know, maybe the future might have been worrying him and maybe that's part of the reason that he's injured, who knows? He doesn't know because he got a different injury in training. Hopefully he can be available for Chelsea or City but I'm not sure. He's got another muscle injury."
Earlier this week, Herrera told Spanish outlet ABC: "I want to beat Barcelona and think about football. It is true that I have only two months of contract and today Manchester United and I are not thinking the same and there is no renewal agreement, but my duty is to continue listening to United.
"I will listen to United, of course, but also to other clubs. I do not close doors."
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