MANCHESTER, England -- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will appear in a Manchester United promotional video urging fans to renew their season tickets despite claiming he does not know whether he will still be in the job at the start of next season.
Solskjaer, who has a contract until May and is favourite to take the permanent job after a blistering start to his managerial career at Old Trafford, will be central to a marketing push to ensure fans sign up for the new season.
It comes despite silence from the club about whether Solskjaer, who has won 12 of his 15 games in charge since taking over from Jose Mourinho in December, will be the full-time manager.
"I've done a photo shoot or a video shoot on season tickets, so I'm pleading for them to get their season tickets," Solskjaer told a news conference on Friday ahead of Southampton's visit.
"If it's me as a supporter or manager I don't know, but they should still buy their season tickets because the club is going somewhere."
Solskjaer is the bookmakers' favourite to land the full-time role ahead of Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, and his involvement in United's commercial activities is a hint that he is set for the job.
In March 2016, the club released a video to promote the preseason tour of China which featured 14 senior players but not manager Louis van Gaal. Two months later, Van Gaal was sacked and replaced by Mourinho.
Shortly after Solskjaer's news conference at Carrington on Friday, former United midfielder Lou Macari, who works for in-house television channel MUTV, tweeted a picture of Solskjaer and assistant Mike Phelan with the caption: "Not long to wait for the big news they will be in charge".
However, without any official announcement, Solskjaer was keen to stress that there was not a done deal.
"That's just part of being here, the commercial [side]," he said. "Part of being a player here as well.
"Suddenly you're not here any more and you see your picture. That's how it is. It's not strange doing it. If my kids see a commercial with me in it and I'm back home in Norway that'll be strange, probably."
Sources have told ESPN FC that United are set to announce a three-game summer tour of China next week, to take place after a two-match trip to Australia.
Solskjaer has been part of planning meetings about the preseason tour and, asked whether he has had discussions about recruitment ahead of next season, said: "Yes, I have. We've been discussing the future of the club.
"We did that before I had won two or three games and all this talk about if I should stay or not. You have to plan.
"Even if I'm not here, I still give my view on who I would like to see as a supporter."