It seemed like the most obvious transfer of the summer. David De Gea would surely leave Manchester United for Spanish giants Real Madrid.

After all the goalkeeper only has a year left on his current United deal and had already agreed personal terms with Madrid. Then on deadline day, a deal was agreed between the two clubs with £19m plus Costa Rican keeper Keylor Navas heading to Old Trafford.

But then as the window slammed shut in Spain on Monday night, it came to everyone’s attention that the deal was signed off in time and that De Gea was still in fact a United player.

That has brought about a row between the two huge European sides with each laying the blame at each others door.

The more I look at it, the more I think Real simply decided not to complete the transfer. Whether that’s down to them having cold feet or that they think getting him next summer on a free represents a better option I don’t know.

But be in no doubt had Florentino Perez wanted De Gea badly enough this summer, then he’d have got his man to the Bernabeu.

Maybe the Real president was just extremely arrogant and believed that Man Utd would sell at £13m or £15m, because of the keeper’s contract. Perez possibly believes the statement that Real Madrid always gets their man and went into this deal with his eyes off the ball.

It’s very conceivable that Senor Perez may have seen that his club have two pretty decent goalies at the club and that De Gea could come next year on a free, But he didn’t want to lose face with the fans, so instead tried last minute to do a deal but put a few obstacles in the way and then blamed the collapse on United.

Why wait until the final day of the transfer window before making your final offer? The player was supposedly your top target? So you come in with that £19m plus Navas offer a few days before deadline day, not on the morning of it.

To be honest had it been a world class striker or the best creative talent, then there is no way Perez and his board would have allowed the deal to go to the wire and rely on chance.

Man Utd Chief Executive Ed Woodward is an ideal scapegoat, as he has proven in the past to struggle on big transfer days,

It is an ideal Real Madrid tactic to feed the local, biased Spanish media and blame the other guy. It’s a deflection ploy that former Real boss Jose Mourinho would have been proud of.

I would love to think that Woodward was actually trolling Madrid all summer, just to ultimately disappoint them in the end. But I doubt he’d do that to the player or his own club as the final deal represented good value.

But when you look at the facts, it just doesn’t add up.

They are playing with fire now. Because if De Gea can make up with Louis van Gaal and get back in the Man United team and once again receive the backing of the United faithful, who is to say that United wont make him an offer he can’t refuse?

Manchester United’s statement yesterday did say:

“The club is delighted that its fan-favourite double player of the year, David De Gea, remains a Manchester United player.”

Surely David has to feel a bit let down by Madrid for not doing everything in their power to get him this summer!

That said I still think, along with the rest of the footballing public, that David De Gea will joining Real next summer on a free transfer.

Just don’t let Florentino Perez fool you, it all could of happened this month!

Posted on September 2nd, 2015 by scott
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