Manchester United Transfer News: David De Gea Slammed Amid Real Madrid Rumours

Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand have hit out at the club’s current goalkeeper David De Gea as speculation about a potential move to Real Madrid continues to linger.

De Gea has not featured for the Red Devils in the 2015-16 campaign so far and was absent again on Wednesday evening as United booked their place in the Champions League group stages with an emphatic 4-0 win over Club Brugge. But as noted by Jack Bezants of the Mail Online, the aforementioned pair, pundits for BT Sport, were unhappy with the goalkeeper’s situation.

Scholes was particularly scathing, suggesting the Spaniard has crossed a line if he has let his attention waver:

"

How can you lose focus? That's the thing for me. He is getting paid by this club, it is a brilliant club. They paid a lot of money on a young keeper to give him this chance. If the manager is right and says he has lost focus then yeah, I think he is out of order.

He should be in that team playing. If it wasn't for him last year, they probably wouldn't be in this position tonight so they have to thank him for that.

"

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Ferdinand was a little less impassioned in his stance on the goalkeeper’s ongoing transfer saga, but he still expressed his concern that selling De Gea now could set a worrying precedent for the club’s top players moving forward:

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I think it sets the tone. I think it tells players you can get out of this club easy. No you can't. If we want you stay and you are one of our better players then you will stay here and play under our conditions. That sets the tone. 

It is disappointing to see it get to this stage. It has become a bit tit-for-tat, there is a lot going on behind the scenes we can't explain because we don't know, but you've got to play him.

"

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As noted in Bezants’ piece, Real Madrid have been strongly linked with a move for the Spanish international all summer. Manager Louis van Gaal has previously suggested that the goalkeeper does not want to play for the club, per James Robson of the Daily Mirror, but they will not sell him before the deadline passes, per Paul Hirst of the Press Association (h/t the MailOnline).

It’s a very tough situation for the club to find themselves in. After all, with De Gea fancying the move and with just one year left on his deal, United’s negotiating stance is weakened, especially when going up against a club which boasts an allure like Real Madrid.

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Spanish football writer Sergi Dominguez is a little perplexed at the club keeping the player on board if they aren’t going to play him anyway:

But you expect that once the window passes, provided De Gea is a United player, he’ll slowly be integrated back into the side. Perhaps, like Scholes, Van Gaal thinks the Spaniard has lost focus, and as such, he may only be able to concentrate fully on his football when the immediate prospect of a move to Real is abated.

Nevertheless, football journalist OffsideLiam thinks that the Red Devils should cash in on the goalkeeper and try to strengthen other facets of the squad:

The worrying thing for United at this stage of the campaign is that getting rid of De Gea now would leave them little time to find an ample replacement. Granted, Sergio Romero has performed well in his spell between the sticks and has become an immediately popular figure with the Red Devils faithful, but he’s not a world-class goalkeeper.

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De Gea, attitude or not, is, and although the Red Devils have spent big money this summer, not having him between the sticks will ultimately weaken the squad. For a team with eyes for a title charge this season, that’d be a major blow indeed.

If a deal was to go through, it should have been boxed off already, giving United time to isolate a successor and bring him in. Although keeping De Gea on board may be against the player’s wishes, at the moment it’s in United’s best interests to do so, and after the window shuts, you suspect he’ll gradually be reintroduced into the first-team squad again.