If you want to know what we think, David de Gea is still as good as gone.
We just can’t see him staying at Manchester United after the end of August.
And, by leaving him out against Tottenham at the weekend, Louis van Gaal was surely preparing himself for the worst.
Of course, every Manchester United fan wants the cat like keeper to stay at Old Trafford.
But Louis van Gaal is a pragmatist and we have already seen with Angel di Maria that he only wants happy players at the club.
Even though Van Gaal wanted the Argentine to stay – his speed and creativity is exactly what the Dutchman is looking for – he accepted that it was better to conclude a deal with PSG for the want away forward.
We think that exactly the same thing will happen with De Gea and the only current stumbling block is the fee.
Chicharito with his mate David de Gea in training this week
But Sky Bet reckon that the chances of him staying at Manchester United are improving with them reporting this afternoon:
David De Gea and Javier Hernandez have been backed to stay at Manchester United.
De Gea is into 2/1 from 100/30 with Sky Bet, who expect that price to continue to attract support.
And, later this afternoon, the odds came in further:
The betting momentum is now very much behind David De Gea staying at Old Trafford. He’s 5/6 with Sky Bet to still be a Manchester United player when the Transfer Window closes and the same price to join Real Madrid. At midday it was 10/3 he stayed.
Even our most trusted friend, The Guardian, reports that United now expect him to stay:
Manchester United now expect David de Gea to stay at the club beyond the summer transfer window and have no concerns regarding the goalkeeper’s professionalism should he do so.
But, for our money, Real Madrid will up their bid when they get closer to the window closing.
Still there remains hope that he will stay at Manchester United this summer.
But the recent words of Van Gaal suggest to us that the Spaniard already has one foot in Madrid.
‘We have to pay a lot of money for all the players we want, and we want the same level when we have to sell.
‘We want to keep him of course but I’m not the most important part, that’s the player and the club who want to buy him. He’s been our best player for two years or three years so we cannot let him go so easily.’
