Manchester United have indicated they are relaxed about David de Gea’s move to Real Madrid having fallen through, with Louis van Gaal expecting the goalkeeper to maintain his high professional standards should he remain at the club.
United view Real’s tactic of leaving their bid late for De Gea as having backfired on the Spanish side. It is understood the first bid they received for De Gea was at lunchtime on Monday. Real are considering an appeal to Fifa in the hope that can rescue the deal.
It is also understood that Keylor Navas, the Real goalkeeper who was to arrive at Old Trafford as part of the agreement for De Gea, is unhappy at the Spanish club. He had let this be known to United and that he was keen to sign for Van Gaal.
De Gea appeared certain to be transferred to Real in a transaction worth £29.3m that had included Navas going the other way.
However, the requisite paperwork missed Monday evening’s Spanish deadline of midnight. The transfer valued De Gea at around £22m and though he was said to be “distraught” at Monday evening’s events, Van Gaal expects the keeper to quickly settle back into life at United.
It was a late twist to a remarkable day in which United also moved out Adnan Januzaj, Javier Hernández and Anders Lindegaard.
United now face losing the goalkeeper for nothing once his contract expires next summer with De Gea free to begin negotiating with clubs in January.
Van Gaal remains open to more signings before the window closes early on Tuesday evening. A striker is high on his priorities despite the expected £36m acquisition of Monaco’s Anthony Martial.
