If a much mooted transfer does happen it will be the longest goodbye in English football. Because Manchester United have been on the cusp of losing David de Gea for years it seems.
The club came closest to losing him at the start of the season when Real Madrid were on the verge of bringing him to their club. If it hadn’t been for an administrative oversight he would already be at Los Blancos. But perhaps this summer he finally will move on.
British media outlet, The Daily Mail, reports that Jose Mourinho has implied he will not use De Sea again this season:
David de Gea may have played his last game for Manchester United after Jose Mourinho indicated that Sergio Romero and Joel Pereira will be in goal for the club’s remaining games this season.
And those quotes from Mourinho:
‘Joel Pereira is fantastic and I am going to give him a chance to play in one of our three remaining (Premier League) matches,’ said Mourinho last week.
‘We have two good experienced goalkeepers and this young boy who for me is going to be the Portuguese No 1. He was made in this club.’
The Daily Mail deduces from this that:
That means De Gea is unlikely to play for United again this season amid speculation that he is on his way to Real Madrid two years after seeing a deadline day move to the Bernabeu collapse.
The Spanish international stopper has been an absolute revelation at Manchester United in his six years at the club and won the player of the year award on more than one occasion.
Because he’s still only 26 you do sense that he may stay for another year at least at Manchester United but he may well view this as his perfect opportunity to move on to the next stage of his career.
And he clearly has affection for Manchester United and their new manager. But Madrid is his old stomping ground and a return has always appeared to be on the cards.
Manchester United fans: can you see him staying at the club beyond this season or is it time to move on and bring a new man in?