The David De Gea to Real Madrid transfer saga has been dragging on throughout the summer without an end in sight. Real want the 23-year-old desperately as a replacement for San Iker but have baulked at the exorbitant price quoted by the Red Devils. They feel that €50 million, as quoted by several outlets , is too steep a price to pay for a player who they can have for free next summer. United, meanwhile , are stuck at a crossroads – to sell the player while they can recoup some fee or to keep him for another season and risk losing him for free next summer. Their indecision is not helped by the fact that De Gea has been the player of the season for the club for the past two seasons and has developed into one of the best goalkeepers in the league since moving to the club in 2011.
In the last few days , with several reports outlining Sergio Ramos’ availability this summer following breakdown of contract talks with the club, United have made the defender their top target this summer and are imploring Madrid to include the 29-year-old in any prospective deal for De Gea. They have allegedly had an initial bid of €40 million for the Spain centre back rejected by Real , and are pinning their hopes on Madrid’s desire for the goalkeeper to secure a swap deal.
De Gea has not yet come out in public with his desire to leave Old Trafford this summer, but has made it clear that he won’t extend his stay at the club beyond his current deal , which expires next summer , after rejecting a bumper contract offer of £200,000 per week. United have now admitted defeat in their attempts to convince him to stay at the club and are looking at avenues to extract the maximum possible value from his sale.
However, news has broken out among Spanish outlets that De Gea has finally grown agitated with the mystery surrounding his future and is willing to force United’s hand to facilitate a move to the Santiago Bernabeu in the coming days. He has reportedly made it clear to the United hierarchy that he wants a move to be concluded sooner rather than later and will join the Los Blancos this summer at all costs.
Though United have already outlined several top quality replacements for the Spaniard in the form of Hugo Lloris , Fernando Muslera and Asmir Begovic, this news will come as a blow to the club’s aims of using the goalkeeper as a bargaining chip in their efforts to bring Ramos to Old Trafford.