Manchester United are holding firm on their refusal to make David de Gea their highest-paid player amid concerns the ongoing contract wrangle is impacting on his form.

Gary Neville suggested the ‘noises’ surrounding De Gea’s future had shown on the pitch this season after the Spain international’s blunder against Arsenal.

United’s players rallied around their goalkeeper in the aftermath of the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also refused to blame him for Granit Xhaka’s opening goal.

But De Gea’s stand-off continues to hang over the club, with the 28-year-old doubting United’s ability to come up with a deal to convince him to commit the best years of his career to Old Trafford.

United are prepared to make the him the highest-paid goalkeeper in history on £350,000-a-week. But he has so far refused to agree to those terms - sparking fears he will be priced out of the club.

It is not the first time De Gea’s ability to focus amid contract issues has been called into question.

Former United manager Louis van Gaal dropped him in 2015 when Real Madrid tried to lure him away from Old Trafford.

Solskjaer rejected suggestions it was an issue again, saying: “David is too professional to let his mind wander. The best players, they know how to focus.”

But United legend Neville has raised fresh concerns.

Reacting to De Gea’s error for Xhaka’s goal, when he was completely wrong-footed as the Arsenal player struck from distance, Neville told Sky Sports: “The first thing to say when you see a goal like that, is that you think there’s been a deflection. But there wasn’t one.

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“It was really poor from David De Gea. I’m not sure how to explain that. He hits it well, Xhaka. He’s got a clear sight of it, De Gea. It swerves, but I’ve got no defence for him. It’s poor from the goalkeeper.

“His reaction for me; he went to his left but didn’t seem to react when the ball went the other way. He’s not been at his best David De Gea this season. All the noise of the contract. He must have had a lot of noise in his ear.”

United recently triggered a one-year extension to De Gea’s deal to buy more time to reach an agreement.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is determined to resolve the issue by the summer and avoid entering the final 12 months of his deal.

Failure to do so would raise the prospect of United having to consider selling their player of the year for four of the last five seasons, rather than lose him nothing.