David de Gea… walking away from Old Trafford?
LONDON, June 2- Real Madrid are now convinced that David de Gea will join them from Manchester United this summer.
The Spanish giants have held two meetings over summer transfer policy this week and sources close to the club have confirmed that president Florentino Perez is sure that De Gea will leave Old Trafford for a price-tag in excess of £25million.
United are still fighting to keep their goalkeeper and will not comment on the state of play. The Barclays Premier League club have offered De Gea £200,000-a-week – a British record deal for a goalkeeper – to try to tempt him to stay and have still not heard officially from Madrid ahead of a transfer window that opens at the end of the month.
However, Madrid believe De Gea will be their man once negotiations formally open and it is also understood that the 24-year-old has told friends at United that he may well be on his way to Spain.
Both members of Louis van Gaal’s playing staff and employees at the club’s Carrington training ground believe that they will not see De Gea again after conversations with him at the end of the season.
The Spanish international has been torn between repaying United’s faith in him by signing another contract and following his heart to Madrid where his girlfriend lives and where he feels he will have a better chance of winning the Champions League and establishing himself as the long-term Spanish No 1.
So sensitive has the stand-off become in recent weeks that even friends and former coaches of De Gea have been asked not to speak about the situation. Meanwhile, De Gea told the Spanish press this week only that: “We will see what happens”.
United are prepared to go the extra mile financially for De Gea and are in constant contact with his agent Jorge Mendes to try and rescue a situation they have looked like losing for some time.
In Madrid, however, the strong feeling after the latest transfer meeting that broke up on Monday night was that once again they have won a fight to bring one of United’s big name stars to the Bernabeu.
-By Daily Mail
