It was supposed to be his triumphant homecoming.
David De Gea’s agents had almost engineered the return to Madrid that he had yearned for, for the past two years.
The former Atletico goalkeeper was minutes away from officially joining Real Madrid, last night, before a mix up of documents saw the £27m deal fall through.
According to Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague, the proper documents only went through to the LFP, who run La Liga, at 12:28am this morning – 28 minutes after the Spanish transfer window closed.
The deal is not exactly dead in the water but the ship is listing and the bailing buckets are full of holes.
Balague has revealed that Real had an official Tuesday afternoon presentation planned for De Gea at the Bernabeu.
The goalkeeper was holed up in his girlfriend Edurne Garcia’s house in Madrid as he waited for the transfer, which included Keylor Navas going to Old Trafford, to be confirmed.
He said, ‘De Gea’s girlfriend, being a famous singer, he asked her stylist to prepare a suit for him for his presentation at 1pm this afternoon [Tuesday].’
I know many won't have any sympathy for De Gea, but the fact he bought a special new suit for his Real presentation is a bit sad
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) September 1, 2015
Balague added, ‘Real Madrid do not think this [appeal] will be possible. They do not think think they will be able to turn this around.’
