Manchester United: Real went cold on De Gea transfer as Van Gaal abused the player’s trust
Manchester United says David De Gea did not join Real Madrid because the Spaniards are tricky and wriggly and wrong. Sir Alex Ferguson once said he would not “sell that mob a virus”. But it looks a lot like United who have been caught cold.
United say Real did not make any contact about De Gea until the final morning of their transfer window, only making a formal bid at 12.45pm. Eventually a deal was struck for cash plus Real ‘keeper Keylor Navas.
United say it then got fiddly.
• Real insisting that Navas should not fly to Manchester and did not need to be put through a medical, with chief executive Jose Angel Sanchez rejecting United’s demands for one until such a time that United had to agree to an exchange of medical information instead.
• Navas’ agent Ricardo Cabanas disappearing out of telephone contact with United for three hours on Monday afternoon, until such a time that it was too late to fly the 28-year-old Costa Rican to Manchester for a medical.
• Real sending De Gea’s transfer document to United minus the signatory page at 22.32pm, less than half an hour before the deadline
• De Gea’s transfer documentation being sent to United again – only this time with a significant technical change to the deal which made it far less attractive to United. This “mark-up” – which was certainly enough to be a deal-breaker – reached United with a mere 20 minutes to go before the transfer window closed.
• Real only sending the documents needed to cancel De Gea’s contract to United at 22.55pm – five minutes before the deadline.
The Indy wonders why it fell through:
It does not seem entirely inconceivable that a Marca poll published on Monday afternoon, which indicated that 90 per cent of fans may be against the Navas/De Gea deal, influenced Real president Florentino Perez. To have withdrawn directly from the deal at that stage could have alienated Madrid from De Gea and jeopardised attempts to buy him next summer.
The upshot is that United keep their best player, albeit one disillusioned and surely hurt by Louis Van Gaal’s poor man-management.
Rory Smith tells Times readers:
As for De Gea, the problems around the Spaniard seem only to have been exacerbated by the manager’s strange handling of the matter. De Gea is known to be furious at Van Gaal’s claim that the goalkeeper was “eager not to play” against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day of the season and the pair’s relationship has been damaged as a consequence.
David De Gea will be available on a free transfer next summer. Real will come again.
Posted: 2nd, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
