Manchester United have triggered the one-year extension on influential goalkeeper David de Gea's contract, Press Association Sport understands.
The Spaniard's deal was set to run out at the end of the season and he would have been allowed to enter into a pre-contract agreement with another club from January 1.
But United have successfully warded off the potential interest of several Premier League and European rivals by extending De Gea's contract until the summer of 2020.
De Gea joined United from Atletico Madrid in June 2011 in a deal thought to be worth £18.9million, which made him the second-most expensive goalkeeper in the world at the time.
He successfully filled the void left by Edwin Van Der Sar and helped United to the last of their 13 Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson in the 2012/13 season.
The 28-year-old is highly regarded to the extent he has been named in the Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year for the last four seasons.
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '24bec739-634a-4294-8d45-07bbbcf2f1af');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Manchester United trigger David De Gea\u2019s one-year contract extension'});
