Manchester United are facing a growing battle to keep Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong at the club, with the pair both open to moves away from Old Trafford next year.

Gomes and Chong are out of contract next summer and, while United have not given up hope of persuading the youngsters to commit to new deals, they will be free to negotiate with foreign suitors in January.

Chong, 20, has attracted interest from Juventus while Gomes, 19, has been linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona among others as they carefully weigh up their options.

The prospect of losing two former young player of the year winners would be a blow to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at a time when United are placing a huge amount of faith in their academy graduates and trumpeting the club’s pathway for young talent.

Solskjaer’s problems deepened after an abject 2-0 defeat to bottom club Watford on Sunday left United seven points adrift of the top four and increased the pressure ahead of the visit of Newcastle on Thursday. The United manager described Paul Pogba’s return from injury as the “only plus” on a day when fresh concerns were raised about goalkeeper David de Gea’s form after an awful blunder for Watford’s first goal.