Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not sure where Ander Herreraās future lies and suggested the uncertainty may have impacted the Manchester United midfielderās fitness.
Press Association Sport understands that the 29-year-old was intending to stay at Old Trafford and sign a contract extension, only for a lack of communication to see the Spaniard plan to leave at the end of his deal.
Herrera is believed to have committed to Paris Saint-Germain over another option, although Solskjaerās appointment brought up a renewed push from United to agree terms to keep him beyond the summer.
āHeās been working really hard to get fit from his injury that he sustained against Liverpool,ā the Red Devils boss said.
āThen he came back, and he got a different one here in training because heās been really putting a lot of work in.
āAnd, unfortunately, thatās come at a time where, as you say, there are contract talks but thatās ongoing, so I canāt really comment too much on how far they have come down the line and what heās deciding.
āWell, you have to ask him (if there is any chance of him staying). I donāt know how theyāve been, the last few talks, but weāve let him focus on his fitness as well.
āHe loves to play and heās not very happy when he canāt help his team-mates and heās always giving his all ā it doesnāt matter if heās got five years left of his contract or five weeks.ā
Herrera is ruled out of Saturdayās Premier League clash against West Ham with a muscle complaint sustained shortly after recovering from a hamstring injury.
Solskjaer, rather surprisingly, suggested that those injury issues could have been contributed to by the uncertainly over his future.
āMaybe the future might have been worrying him and maybe thatās part of the reason that heās injured,ā the United boss said. āWho knows?
āHe doesnāt know because he got a different injury in training. Hopefully he can be available for around about Chelsea (April 28), City (April 24) but Iām not sure because he got another muscle injury.ā
Herrera is one of a number of absentees for this weekendās match against the Hammers, with Nemanja Matic likely to be laid low again by illness.
Luke Shaw and Ashley Young are suspended but Matteo Darmian is available and Marcos Rojo could well come in at left-back for his first start under Solskjaer.
Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia also look set to miss out once again, so too forward Alexis Sanchez as he returns from an ankle injury.
āHe is training with us,ā Solskjaer said of the Chile forward. āHeās trained twice. Heāll train today.
āIām not sure if heās going to be available. Heās injury free but I am not sure if heās 100 per cent for tomorrow, maybe more likely for the Barcelona game (next Tuesday), so letās see.ā
Solskjaer will have half an eye on Tuesdayās trip to the Camp Nou when selecting his side on Saturday, although he is well aware of the need to win.
Already three points off the top four heading into the weekend, United have lost four of their last five matches in all competitions.
āYouāre never happy when you donāt win games, but itās been a period now where weāve played some good teams,ā Solskjaer said.
āWe had some good performances, but we havenāt had the quality in front of goal and belief maybe in front of goal that we should have because against Wolverhampton and Arsenal, the two league games, two of the last three, we should have won with the amount of chances.
āSo, weāve been practising. As a striker I know how important that little belief is and trust in yourself, so weāve been putting balls in goals.ā