Pedro might have scored the winning goal in Barcelona's thrilling 5-4 UEFA Super Cup victory over Sevilla on Wednesday, but very little has changed with his situation. The facts are these: He wants to leave Barca to get more regular football. Manchester United want him. He wants to join United.

United made firm their interest after preseason training began in July, but have not put in an offer to activate Pedro's €30 million release clause. Barcelona have known since July 22 that the player wanted to leave. Barca coach Luis Enrique understands why Pedro wants to go but doesn't want him to.

The pair have spoken and Enrique has explained the situation, but Pedro still wants to leave. The coach has been adamant that he wants the 28-year-old to be available for Barcelona's three Super Cup matches ahead of the La Liga season. With one out of the way, Barca play at Athletic Bilbao on Friday, with the return leg three days later.

The current situation has been the status quo for over two weeks, in which time predicted happenings did not occur. Pedro didn't say an emotional farewell to the Camp Nou crowd after the Joan Gamper Trophy game against Roma and United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward didn't fly into Barcelona to conclude dealings a day later because dealings had not even begun.

Meanwhile, Barcelona claim that Manchester City have entered negotiations, which is news to Pedro's agents. Barca would very much like City to negotiate as they've yet to see their release clause met and, ideally, an auction would drive up the price.

As for Pedro himself, his head must be spinning. His teammates don't want him to go, but it's easy for them to hold such opinions when they're playing every week and he's not.

Pedro did not start the UEFA Super Cup but scored the winner having come on as a substitute.

Enrique wanted Pedro for the Super Cup games because he felt that the six Barcelona players who played in Copa America wouldn't be at 100 percent when the season started.

When Neymar was taken ill with mumps, which will keep him out for 15 days, Enrique's foresight appeared correct, yet Pedro still didn't start in Tbilisi on Wednesday, despite having been one of Barca's best players in preseason.

Club insiders claim the reason was because of the pressure from United and because of the mental state of the player, reasons similar to those which made Louis van Gaal omit David de Gea from United's starting lineup vs. Tottenham.

Having held a dominant 4-1 lead vs. Sevilla, Barcelona were pegged back to 4-4 before Pedro came on and hit his 99th goal for the club he's been at throughout his professional career. He scores in big games, as United fans who watched the 2011 European Cup final will know.

Pedro's situation is not helping the mood at Camp Nou, but United are playing it cool. The transfer window is open for almost three more weeks and the deadline for submitting a possible Champions League squad is not until Sept. 1, either.

United want flexibility from Barcelona for a player who wants to leave the Catalan club. They want room to negotiate from a straight payment of €30 million for United seldom pay transfer fees in full.

When a club deals with Barcelona, it deals with two sides of the club: The sporting and the elected administrative. Given that, United must avoid a repeat of the situation with Cesc Fabregas two years ago

In 2013, Fabregas didn't want to leave but was happy to if the club wanted to sell him. The elected administrative side of Barcelona wanted to sell the midfielder but the sporting side did not.

During that summer, two United targets were well advised to say nothing publicly, yet both affirmed that they were interested in moving to Old Trafford by making direct calls to confirm it. Not through their agent, but direct.

Under contract at their current clubs, they were reluctant to ask for a transfer and, because they didn't ask, the clubs didn't push to sell them. If they had asked, the clubs could have said "He wanted to leave, we had to sell him", which would have covered their backs with fans. As it was, neither played joined United.

As for the current situation, though Pedro wants to leave he was annoyed on Wednesday when new Barcelona technical director Robert Fernandez said publicly -- talking in a TV studio within earshot of microphones is as good as public -- that the player wants to go and had told him so.

Fernandez's words weren't said out of a bad intention but, on the eve of a final, they were said at the wrong moment. Maybe he didn't realise that saying anything on the record about transfers feeds the frenzy and provides quotes that can come back to haunt.

No player wants to be seen to be turning his back on a club they're supposed to love and to damage their legacy. They all want the perfect send-off, though it seldom happens like that, and there's usually ill-feeling in some quarter that is only fixed over time.

In Pedro's ideal world, he'd stay at Barcelona, currently the best team in the world, and play every week. That hasn't happened, and it's not going to happen, so he absolutely wants to join United.

However, instead of taking the field in Birmingham at Aston Villa on Friday, he'll be playing the Basques of Athletic Club in Bilbao. That's if he's selected.

Andy Mitten is a freelance writer and the founder and editor of United We Stand. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyMitten.