Despite the three month speculations linking him to Real Madrid, the Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea is still a Manchester United player. De Gea is currently with the national team on international duty and is expected to return to Old Trafford for the game against Liverpool.
It is no news that the former Atletico Madrid player wants to return to Spain’s capital after four years in England and his family and girlfriend are being cited as the reason. De Gea arrived at Manchester United as a skinny, raw talent but in a year’s time he showed everyone why Sir Alex brought him to Manchester in the first place. The 24-year-old went on to become the best player at the club for two years in a row. Despite being homesick, David de Gea has been completely professional in his approach to move out of the club. The United’s number 1 has spoken ill about the club or the manager and has always treated them with nothing but respect.
Last month Louis van Gaal dropped one of the best goalkeepers in the world and played Sergio Romero in goal until De Gea’s future at the club gets resolved. It is now believed that David will resume his place in the starting line-up as he can’t afford to sit out for the whole season with the European championship arriving next year. It is also rumored that the player will sign a new contract at the club after his move to Santiago Bernabeu failed at the very last minute.
Both Manchester United and Real Madrid are pointing fingers at each other as De Gea’s proposed move failed because of the delay that occured at either end. According to Real Madrid, Manchester United were late to send the keeper’s documents to the Spanish FA but the Red Devils insist that the documents were sent before the end of deadline and there was fault at Madrid’s end.
Two of the biggest soccer clubs in the world took the matters public and the war of words began with each criticizing the other. Both the clubs explained their sides of the story and claimed to have the backing of English FA (Man United) and FIFA (Real Madrid).
United ended the statement on their club website with some very strong words: “Manchester United acts appropriately and efficiently in its transfer dealings. The club is delighted that its fan-favourite double Player of the Year, David de Gea, remains a Manchester United player.”
The Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez, blatantly pointed finger at Ed Woodward and the new hierarchy at United. Such foolish words from the head of such a big and respectable organization such as Real Madrid are totally out of proportion.
Perez said, “If somebody comes to buy one of our players and we say that he’s not for sale, it’s because he’s not for sale. And that’s what they kept telling us until August 31st. We could’ve said that we were not interested anymore, but we thought we had the obligation to try, even knowing how difficult it was going to be. I don’t think they had bad intentions. What they’re lacking is experience. This exact same thing happened to us last year with Coentrao, and to Athletic with Ander Herrera.”
The matter has been blown out of proportion by both the clubs and it was really uncalled for from Perez as it can damage the relationship between the clubs and any future transfer dealings between the clubs can get affected.