Every day brings another news story signalling the impending end of David de Gea’s 10-year career at Manchester United and the writing certainly seems to be on the wall for the Spaniard.
Following yesterday’s story that relations between manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the goalkeeper had become fractious, The Mail now report that De Gea is offering himself to clubs as United seek to offload the club’s biggest pay check.
‘David De Gea is being offered to Europe’s top clubs by his representatives as the Spain goalkeeper prepares to leave Manchester United this summer,’ The Mail claims.
‘It is understood the 30-year-old is ready to call time on his United career after a decade at Old Trafford and his camp have begun sounding out potential buyers.
‘No transfer fee has been mentioned yet — although United would want in the region of £50 million — but De Gea’s £375,000-a-week wages will be a stumbling block in the current economic climate.
‘Real Madrid, who came within minutes of signing De Gea in the summer of 2015, are likely to be interested again at the right price, while he has also been consistently linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
‘Atletico Madrid, who sold De Gea to United for £18.9 m in 2011, may also consider re-signing him if Jan Oblak leaves this summer.’
PSG would certainly seem to be the most likely destination of the three, especially if they raise funds by selling Kylian Mbappe this summer. But £50 million is an incredibly unrealistic figure and United would also face buying out De Gea’s contract as no buying club would realistically come close to matching his current salary.
This will likely lead to a complicated situation similar to that of Alexis Sanchez, where a low, or even zero, transfer fee is negotiated with a buyout of his contract. Another possibility – perhaps more likely in the current climate – is a loan deal, with United paying a percentage of the Spaniard’s wages.