Louis van Gaal has accused Real Madrid of trying to get David de Gea on the cheap and told the Spanish club they need to pay the going rate to persuade Manchester United to sell a goalkeeper who has been so distracted by the potential transfer he will not be trusted to play in their opening game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Van Gaal has decided to leave out De Gea, fearing United’s player of the year is not in the right frame of mind to feature. De Gea has made it clear he wants to move to the Bernabéu but several months of negotiations have reached an impasse and Van Gaal explained it was because Madrid were refusing to meet United’s valuation.
United had tried to involve Sergio Ramos in a possible player-plus-cash exchange and there have also been several attempts to explore whether Madrid would entertain the idea of letting Gareth Bale return to England. The Spanish club rejected those advances and, as a straight money deal, the two clubs have been unable to reach a compromise.
“Manchester United always have to pay,” Van Gaal said. “We have to pay for all the players a certain amount, and what have Real Madrid offered? We are asking money and they have to pay the money. In the last few years Manchester United has paid a lot of money and we never received a lot of money for our players.”
Van Gaal was clearly frustrated that the issue was still unresolved on the eve of the opening match and wants a change in the rules so the transfer window no longer overlaps the start of the season. “I am the victim, the fellow players are the victims, the club is the victim and that is why the transfer period has to change,” he said. “He is the best goalkeeper we have had the last three years and in two years he was nominated by the fans as the best player at the club. Do you think the trainer-coach wants him to leave? I don’t think so.”
He would not say who would replace De Gea but the manager’s fall-out with Víctor Valdés means there could be a debut for Sergio Romero, the Argentina international who played for the Dutchman at AZ Alkmaar and was signed on a free transfer after coming to the end of his contract at Sampdoria in the summer.
Alternatively, Van Gaal could take a gamble on Sam Johnstone, a 22-year-old who was involved in all four of United’s games on their US tour but has never made a competitive appearance for the club. Johnstone had loan spells at Preston North End and Doncaster Rovers last season but is in Van Gaal’s thinking because Romero, who spent last season on loan at Monaco, has not played since the Copa América.
Whether De Gea will even be at Old Trafford on Saturday is not certain, but it has been clear for some time that he is in Manchester against his wishes.
“We have seen in our training sessions and matches he is not the David de Gea of last year,” Van Gaal said. “He tries, he does his upmost best, but it is a difficult situation. He cannot manage this situation. A human being is more than just a player and he cannot manage. So he will not play and you will have to wait to see who does. We have to play our first match, and this is the most important match, so I want players who can focus only on the match. He is not capable of doing that.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger’s inclusion is also in doubt after Van Gaal admitted the German was troubled by the fitness issues that were cited by Pep Guardiola when explaining why Bayern Munich allowed him to leave. “I don’t think he is fit enough,” Van Gaal said. “We have to build the fitness he needs.”
However, Van Gaal’s bigger concern is that his squad still has several notable holes and he expressed his regret that Ángel Di María had been unable to make a success of himself in Manchester. “We solved that problem,” he said, referring to Paris Saint-Germain’s £44.3m acquisition of the Argentinian, “but for us it is a big loss because when I say I want more attackers with speed and creativity, Di María is one of those players.”
