Federico Macheda, the 17-year-old Italian who has played such a dramatic role in the title race, expects to be offered a five-year contract by Manchester United when he turns 18 in August.

Preliminary negotiations have already been held and Macheda has significantly strengthened his position by scoring the winning goals against Aston Villa and Sunderland in his first two appearances for Sir Alex Ferguson's team, both as a substitute.

"When he's 18 we'll talk again," his agent, Giovanni Bia, told Italy's Sky TV. "I think Manchester will ask us to sign a five-year deal and I think that would be logical because it makes no sense to lose a lad at 21."

Macheda, who was signed from Lazio's youth system, is expected to be offered a contract that will earn him in excess of 10,000 pounds a week, but Bia said the negotiations had not yet reached that far. "We haven't talked about figures," he said.