David De Gea set to play for Manchester United against Liverpool with confidence relationship with Louis van Gaal will be rescued

The goalkeeper's proposed move to Real Madrid has fallen through

Sam Wallace
Tuesday 01 September 2015 13:13 BST
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David De Gea
David De Gea (GETTY IMAGES)

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Manchester United believe that David De Gea will be reintroduced smoothly into Louis van Gaal’s plans and are happy for the player to stay to see out the final year of his contract.

The goalkeeper will stay at United after his transfer broke down at the last minute on Monday night when Real Madrid failed to register him in time with the Spanish football federation (the RFEF) and the Liga Futbol de Profesional for the 11pm European transfer deadline. United have proof that their documents were uploaded to the Fifa transfer management system website in time and that the fault lies with Madrid for the €40m (£29m) deal not going through.

De Gea was last offered a new contract in February by United and did not sign, staying on the five-year deal that he agreed when he joined United in 2011. His wages have risen marginally over his time at the club, according to pre-agreed uplifts in the original deal, but they are nothing like the £150,000-a-week wages offered to him in the contract that he rejected earlier in the year.

While United will lose out on the fee that the player would have fetched had the transfer gone through - £18m plus the £11m rated Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas - they reason that they will benefit from having De Gea for one more season, and paying him considerably less than the going rate for a footballer of his quality. There is no doubt at Old Trafford that the relationship between Van Gaal and De Gea can be rescued and that he will be back in goal for the game against Liverpool after the international break.

United would point out that they have been here before with key players in the past. Cristiano Ronaldo was persuaded to stay another year before finally leaving for Real Madrid in 2009. Two years ago, Wayne Rooney was keen to move to Chelsea following his fall-out with Sir Alex Ferguson, until the intervention of David Moyes.

De Gea has trained in every session this season. Van Gaal has said all along that he expected to review the situation when the transfer window closed if the goalkeeper was still at the club.

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