Man United is running out of time to give David De Gea a new contract. Can they do it before they leave for free?
In 2015, after a summer of rumors and speculation, Manchester United accepted the defeat in an attempt to convince David De Gea to sign a new contract and agreed to sell the Spanish to Real Madrid. Four years later and a faulty fax later, the United States returned to where they started. In less than three months – July 1, to be precise – De Gea will officially have a year of rest on his Old Trafford deal and the decision made by executive vice president Ed Woodward and the Glazer family will be whether to cash in on their precious goalkeeper or keep their courage.
The sources told ESPN FC that their plan, as written, is to remain firm. The summer offers will be rejected in the hope that De Gea can be convinced to stay. Their opinion is that they can take the financial blow in the worst case and leave nothing for 12 months; for the club it is worth the risk if he gives them more time to negotiate a new agreement.
At the moment, however, an agreement is far away. Sources close to De Gea have suggested to the club that it does not have the "capacity" to satisfy its demands. Other sources have suggested that the associated costs (including agents' fees) have pushed up the price of the agreement.
The United States is ready to pay the porter £ 350,000 a week for five years in a deal that would earn him more than £ 90 million. De Gea is asking for more and, at the moment, the gap is so wide that there is no end in sight.
De Gea and his representatives believe that he deserves to be one of the highest paid players at United. After all, he won the player of the year award in four of the last five seasons and is among the best goalkeepers in the world. At 28, he is in the midst of his career and is eager to cash in while he can. You can see his point.
United, meanwhile, is trying to manage a wage structure that was destroyed by Alexis Sanchez's mega money transfer from the Arsenal in January 2018. They are also trying to cope with a changing landscape in the transfer market . The transfer of Neymar's £ 199 million from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 blew the roof off the market in terms of transfer costs and it took time to recover salaries. During the negotiations with De Gea and Ander Herrera in particular, they began to feel the blow. After more than a year of talks, Herrera is two months away from a free transfer, with PSG tied closer to the Spanish midfielder.
Neymar and Sanchez have set a benchmark, but the United States is at least learning. D & # 39; now on, their best players will be offered five-year contracts with the option of a sixth instead of the four plus a De Gea contract signed in 2015, when his transfer to Real Madrid has failed at # last minute. Club leaders hope they will give them more protection from situations like this that will be repeated in the future.
It is clear that United wants De Gea to remain. In August 2018, they were confident that a deal was near. Encouraged by the passage of Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea to Real Madrid, there was a strong behind-the-scenes belief that he would sign a new contract sooner rather than later. Eight months later, the word used is no longer "confidence" but "hope".
In favor of United is the lack of other options for De Gea. Any club in the world would love the opportunity to sign it, but the wages package mentioned above means that it will be out of reach for everyone, except for a handful of European elites. He wouldn't play anywhere else in the Premier League, and Barcelona has already done so Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
A move for Real Madrid would have allowed him to return to the city where he and his girlfriend, Edurne, had grown up. He has had problems with the Spanish press since he became the national number one, but the shot at home is strong. Sources stated at ESPN FC that they particularly appreciated his incredible shot from Luis Muriel's mid-field header during the first leg of the Champions League first knockout round match against Sevilla last season because his parents and his sister was in the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to see him.
The real have been fans of the past and have the financial power to sign De Gea, but they will probably have to download Courtois, which has only 12 months for a six-year contract. It is interesting to note, however, that Belgium's first season at the Bernabeu did not go well and Keylor Navas was the first choice after Zinedine Zidane's return as manager.
The next in line would be PSG and Juventus in terms of realistic contenders, but even now there are people at United who doubt that the Italian champions have the resources after getting rid of Cristiano Ronaldo.
If De Gea leaves, the United States is ready. In 2015, they signed the number 1 of Argentina, Sergio Romero, and were ready to pull the trigger on Jasper Cillessen, then play for the Ajax and now in Barcelona. This time, the scouts spent time watching Gianluigi Donnarumma at AC Milan and Jan Oblak at Atletico Madrid. Sources told ESPN FC that Oblak is the first choice if they are looking for a new goalkeeper; believe that Slovenian can be reached even if he signs a new contract.
Neither United nor De Gea have lost hope of being able to sign a new agreement at Old Trafford. De Gea is established in Manchester and has close friends in the locker room of Herrera, Juan Mata and the coach of goalkeeper Emilio Alvarez. He also appreciated the fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer listened to his advice and kept Alvarez in the wake of the dismissal of Jose Mourinho. The couple worked together at Atletico and has a good relationship away from football and the training ground.
The United States is willing to push the boat out to keep one of the only real world-class players on the team, but they will stop before offering Sanchez-type money to stay. The trick now is to find a happy medium, but time is running out.
Sources told ESPN FC that the United States is ready for these summer offers that will test their resolution. They are planning to have him on their team next season, regardless of whether they have signed a new contract or not, but there is also a reluctant acceptance that things can change very quickly, just as they did on the day of the deadline in 2015.