Sunday was one of the few Manchester United games this season when David de Gea’s brilliance wasn’t brought into focus.
United’s player of the season would have had a low profile weekend had his girlfriend not made seemingly disparaging remarks about Manchester.
I’ve seen the footage and while Edurne Garcia is never going to be employed to promote Manchester, she has a point in what she says - the nice parts of Manchester are not immediately obvious.
As the first city of the industrial revolution, parks and open spaces were compromised by factories and housing. Manchester misses a great central park like Madrid’s Retiro or London’s royal parks, but while the weather raises constant grumbles, there are thousands of Spaniards who’ve made the city their home since the economic crash and they’ve grown to become very fond of England’s ever improving second city.
The chance of De Gea staying long term are slim. He’s fine in Manchester and hasn’t made a definite decision on where he’ll be next season, but there are credible voices in Madrid who think he’ll start next season as Real Madrid’s number one.
Unlike most footballers, De Gea was born in a city with two world class football teams. He’s played for Atletico and it’s very hard to resist Real Madrid, especially as they play in his home city, where his best friends live and where his partner, who will sing Spain’s Eurovision song in May, is from and lives.
The pulls are significant.
Madrid is also a great city, a self-confident capital, albeit one beset by terrible traffic congestion. It’s climbing out of the rubble of Spain’s economic crisis which dented all of Spain (and saw a bigger influx of Spaniards to Manchester than at any time in history), but Madrid’s self-assuredness is matched by Real Madrid, that great Spanish side who did well enough to reach the 1968 European Cup semi-final before being knocked out by England’s Manchester United.
United aren’t daft. They could match and beat Madrid’s offer on wages, more so with the pound’s continuing rise against the Euro, but it’s not always about money.
United will try and get De Gea to sign a contract so that they can achieve a significant price for the world’s best goalkeeper. United can then justify the sale with a big profit, as they did with the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, not that fans will be pleased if De Gea leaves.
However, it’s not just what United do with their current number one, but what happens at the Bernabeu.
Many factors can prevent a transfer going through and unfortunately, the stars are not aligning in United’s favour. Iker Casillas’ reign as Madrid’s undisputed number one is over.
He’s the club captain and the second highest earner at the club after Ronaldo, but he’s been under pressure because of his mistakes. This Sunday’s clasico is vital.
Casillas’ relationship with Jose Mourinho broke down in 2012-13, but Real Madrid were reluctant to sell him as they felt they would have been left with just one quality goalkeeper.
The man known as Saint Iker was also, with good reason, one of the most popular players in the history of the club, but his stock has dipped and a free transfer could smooth any departure.
Madrid, like most big European clubs, now have two top class ’keepers since they signed Keylor Navas. They also intend to loan River Plate’s Augusto Batalla, but he’s 18 and far from fully formed as De Gea is.
It will be a shame if De Gea departs. He could have played for close to two decades and pushed been a top three appearance holder at United.
He still might, but Victor Valdés, 33, didn’t come to Manchester to sit on a bench. He’s also one of the planet’s best goalkeepers and he’s loving life in Manchester. Crucially, so is his partner and their children.
Valdés’ English has really come on too. Of course it helps that United were one of the few clubs who could pay him more than €5 million per year, but he’s training superbly and could have gone to Liverpool, where he would have likely been number one.
Valdés also had firm interest from Juventus, but chose United.
De Gea will be lucky enough to have a choice, but don’t put your shirt on him staying at Old Trafford for long.
