There’s not been much in the way of good news for Manchester United supporters lately, so why start now?
Despite Jose Mourinho saying that David De Gea was close to signing a new deal at Old Trafford, it’s now being reported that this isn’t the case at all.
Writing in the Daily Record, Duncan Castles claims no agreement is in place for De Gea to commit the next five years of his career to United.
Pointing to his levels of consistency over the last few seasons, De Gea is said to be after a new contract which would see him collect a wage equal to the club’s top earners, Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez. He does not believe, however, that such an offer is close to being tabled.
The Spanish number one last extended his deal with United in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of his move to Real Madrid in 2015. He currently has less than a year to run on that deal, though United have the option to extend this by a further 12 months.
Assuming United do choose to activate the one-year extension (which they almost certainly will), they will be left with 16 months to agree a new deal with De Gea before he is allowed to reach a pre-contract agreement with any overseas club. If this happens, the goalkeeper will depart on a free.
Thibaut Courtois’ recent move to Real appears to have closed off De Gea’ most likely exit route from Old Trafford, though the report from Castles claims that Paris Saint-Germain have been interested in signing him in the past. PSG signed Gianluigi Buffon on a one-year deal this summer with an option to extend it by a further 12 months. Assuming the Italian stays with the French champions for two seasons, they may well choose to try and replace him with De Gea when that time is up.
United will hope to bounce back from defeat at Brighton last Sunday when they take on Tottenham at Old Trafford on Monday evening. Should they lose, they will already be six points off the Premier League summit with three games of the new season played.
