Manchester United interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be excited as goalkeeper David De Gea has decided he wants to stay at Manchester United and expects to sign a new long-term contract at the club.
It was gathered that although final terms are still to be agreed as the club and the player’s agent Jorge Mendes haggle over a potential £375,000-per-week salary, the goalkeeper has been uplifted by the club’s revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and sees his long-term future at Old Trafford. After Real Madrid moved for Thibaut Courtois last summer, De Gea’s long-proposed move to the Spanish capital is no longer feasible.
De Gea also now has little desire to play in Spain, where he feels he has too often been unfairly maligned by the media. The goalkeeper is not understood to want to move to Paris Saint-Germain, who will want a replacement for Gianluigi Buffon within the next year, as he is not overly stirred by the lack of competition in the French domestic league. De Gea is also believed to favour remaining in the Premier League to a move to Italy, where prospective buyers Juventus are already committed to eye-watering contracts for Aaron Ramsey and Cristiano Ronaldo.
De Gea’s representatives have been locked in a contract stand-off with United since the beginning of this season. As the club toiled under Jose Mourinho and appeared to lose all sense of purpose and direction, the 28-year-old became concerned about committing the next five years to a club that has now gone six years without a Premier League title. United have made it clear that they are happy to pay De Gea a weekly salary of £350,000 but Mendes has seen Chilean flop Alexis Sanchez raking in £400,000-per-week and is pushing for parity.
De Gea’s contract at the club expires in the summer of 2020 and he would be free to sign a new contract with an overseas club in January. Yet those close to De Gea now expect either his representatives or the club to back down in the coming months to ensure his future is tied long-term to United in time for the start of pre-season.