Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera set to sign new deal at Old Trafford

Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera is set to sign a new deal at Old Trafford, before his current contract expires in the summer.

According to the Manchester Evening News, the 28-year-old has already opened negotiations with the club and is understood to be prepared to commit his future to the club.

Herrera signed a four-year deal when he joined United from Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2014 and the 20-time champions of England have already indicated they are intent on taking up their option for one additional year.

However, the Basque, who was linked with a move to Barcelona earlier in the summer, is also set to be handed an improved deal. Herrera, who has won two caps with Spain, was voted player of the season by United fans last season but has been using sparingly so far this term.

The Spaniard has started only two of his side's seven games in all competitions and came on as a substitute after 77 minutes on Sunday (17 September), as United trounced Everton 4-0 at Old Trafford.

Jose Mourinho praised Herrera's 13-minute cameo, highlighting the former Athletic Bilbao brought stability to United's midfield before his side scored three times in the last 10 minutes.

"I think Ander was important," Mourinho added, told the Manchester Evening News. "He gave us the stability that we were losing a little bit and then was only possible, in my view, 1-0 or 2-0, I never thought in the last 15 or 20 minutes it could be 1-1."

"The 2-0 come and after that the third and fourth goals are just a consequence of a team that was sad and another team that was happy, for me the third and fourth goal were a little bit out of context in the game."

Mourinho's words were particularly significant as they came only a couple of days after reports suggested Herrera had fallen out of favour with his manager for inviting a friend who has close links to Celta Vigo to the United's Carrington training ground just before they faced the La Liga outfit in the Europa League semi-final last season.

The incident allegedly did not go down well with the Portuguese manager, who then called Herrera into his office. Since that incident, a change in the relationship between Mourinho and the midfielder has been noticed around the club and a source told the Daily Mail the dynamic between the pair had changed.

However, there appears to be no issues between the pair and the United manager considers Herrera an integral part of his plans.