Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has said that Donny van de Beek and Brandon Williams are both in discussions over moves away from the club before the end of the transfer window.
Neither player was in the squad against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday evening, while they were also left out against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in the team's second match of the new season.
Van de Beek had been heavily linked with a switch to Real Sociedad; it is believed that a potential move to the La Liga club has broken down, but there are thought to be a number of other sides in the picture.
Williams, meanwhile, is only the third-choice left-back at the club behind Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia, and despite being involved during pre-season, the Englishman is also expected to depart.
Harry Maguire's future has also been the subject of much speculation, and he was a notable absentee from the squad against Spurs, but it was then revealed that the centre-back had a small injury.
"Yesterday, the final training, 'H' fell out with a small issue and after September 1 everything can change, but we need players who are totally with their heads in our team," Ten Hag told reporters on Saturday.
"And, I wouldn't say the players you just mentioned, they are not, but it's also obvious in this moment they are looking for something else.
"But when they are here, they always do their best and they do every training, Brandon, Donny, I am pleased with their performance and also pleased with their performance in pre-season, Brandon, Donny, and some more did a very good pre-season."
Ten Hag also bemoaned his side's missed opportunities against Spurs, with Bruno Fernandes missing Man United's best chance in North London, before the hosts went on to score twice without reply to win 2-0.
"It was a very good performance in the first half, except we have to score. We created good chances. We had a really good press on the ball. We had good stretches where we had many chances to score a goal and we deserved a penalty," he told Sky Sports News.
"We quickly had three bookings and that can't happen. We have to stay focused. Then we switched off in that one attack, they had two big chances and they hit twice the barrier (woodwork).
"So that wasn't good. And then the start of the second half was definitely not good. You have to stay on the front foot and it was totally unnecessary to concede that goal. We didn't collapse, we fought back, but we didn't score.
"I'm not [worried] by the attacking play but by scoring. That is the same issue. We know that. That's why we signed a striker."
Man United, who have collected three points from their first two matches of the 2023-24 Premier League season, will return to action against Nottingham Forest next weekend. body check tags ::
