The closest someone has got to signing a Manchester United contract this season is Jurgen Klopp.

"Is that for me?" he asked when he stepped onto the dais in the Old Trafford press conference room. The Liverpool coach needed a little levity after Amad's pulsating 121st-minute winner in the FA Cup quarter-final.

The longest expiry date in a United player's contract is four years, excluding plus-one options. Six players - Alejandro Garnacho, Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Diogo Dalot, Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund - are tied to United until 2028. Kobbie Mainoo has a one-year option to take him to 2028.

Garnacho, Onana and Hojlund are regular starters, so they are deemed unsellable. Onana's £47.2million fee has a bearing as United cannot make a profit on a 28-year-old goalkeeper they signed only nine months ago.

Dalot cost a prudent £19m in 2018 and his worth is at least double that, so he is not exempted. Imagine the outcry if United put a 'not for sale' tag on Mount or Rashford.

United are treating the Rashford situation delicately after his indiscipline and friction with matchgoers this season. They are also conscious that his publicist is the same as Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho's.

A condition of Ronaldo's divorce was that United provided no background. The swift announcement of the strategic review on the same day trumped it in the news cycle. There was also plenty of breathing space between Ronaldo's incendiary interview on TalkTV and when Erik ten Hag held court with journalists in Cadiz at United's winter training camp.

Dalot, 25, has started in 43 of United's 47 games this season, wants to stay and his list of admirers has predictably dwindled since he signed a five-year contract last May. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, out of contract next year and an auxiliary left back of late, is the sellable asset at full back.

Wan-Bissaka, 26, has now played as many times for United as Eric Cantona. He received a five-year contract in 2019 and his best season was his first.

United supporters unfurled a banner with the word 'standards' bearing the faces of Cantona, Robson and Keane against Arsenal in December 2021. They have not sufficiently restored them. Wan-Bissaka is not the most egregious example of an excessive contract from the Ed Woodward era but he is current.

Victor Lindelof is another. He had not reached the halfway point of a maximum five-year deal and had just been part of the worst United defence in 40 years when Matt Judge negotiated a wage hike in 2019.

Why? Lindelof's agent had exaggerated interest from Barcelona, their financial disarray such common knowledge that Woodward smugly referred to it behind closed doors. That was after he had sanctioned Lindelof's new paperwork.

Richard Arnold was a more competent chief executive but still operated too similarly to his fellow University of Bristol alumni. Antony and Lisandro Martinez received five-year deals and there are options for a fifth with Casemiro and Tyrell Malacia, as unlikely as it is either will make it that far.

This is the first time this century United have not negotiated an in-season contract renewal with a senior player. With the majority of the United squad effectively on trial, that should also apply to any incomings.

An essential strategy shift would be to cap incentivised contracts at four years. Let a signing find their feet in the first year and hit the ground running in the second. If they fail to do so, cut them loose. They would be easier to shift with only two years left on their deal.

Should they perform, contribute to the team's success or overachieve, then it triggers an extension, a bonus or a bump in salary. Chris Smalling exceeded expectations to start 23 games in his first season as United won an unprecedented 19th title in 2010-11. Smalling's own individual achievements added a year to his initial five-year contract.

Were such an approach established last year, Garnacho would have been a worthy exception as a teenager with the skill set to be regarded among the elite forwards. Ronaldo's three contracts with United were five-year arrangements. Two of Wayne Rooney's were for six years.

Gary Neville voiced concerns Chelsea were demotivating players with their amortisation-influenced eight-year deals. Rooney and Ronaldo entered a driven environment teeming with serial winners led by a motivated manager who commanded respect. Sir Alex Ferguson only needed a rolling contract.

Fortunately for United, Klopp will soon be out of contract.