The David de Gea transfer saga has shown no signs of slowing down.
The Manchester United goalkeeper has been perpetually linked with a move to Real Madrid, which resulted in him being dropped for their seasonal opener against Tottenham last week.
Louis van Gaal confirmed the club’s player of the season last campaign would also not feature for their clash with Aston Villa on Friday evening. The Dutch boss explained that staff spoke to the Spaniard about his desire to play for United and he definitely said he had none.
“We’ve talked with him and he was fully agreed with our decision. We have a goalkeeping coach, Frans Hoek, so I’m not doing everything alone.”
“Frans had a meeting with David and he asked him, ‘Do you want to play?’ The answer was no.”
However, a BBC report claims that sources close to De Gea say he never expressed a desire not to play.
It detailed how De Gea has been bumped down to training with United’s reserve team and will not be considered for the first team until the transfer window has closed.
That report has been backed up by Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague.
Surprisingly @D_DeGea trained with reserve team in last 2 days.Part of Utd strategy or did LvG want 2 train with the 2 goalies he took 2day?
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 14, 2015
In the meantime, Argentina’s Sergio Romero is expected to remain between the posts for United.
