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Manchester United's goalkeeper David De Gea of Spain arrives at Soccer City training facility for a Spanish soccer team concentration meeting in Las Rozas, near Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. The day after De Gea's multi-million euro move to the Spanish capital was called off, Madrid pointed the finger at United, issuing a lengthy 10-point statement claiming officials at Old Trafford held the deal up with their delays, but United hit back at their old rivals by publishing a counter-statement on Tuesday evening.(AP Photo)
Manchester United's goalkeeper David De Gea of Spain arrives at Soccer City training facility for a Spanish soccer team concentration meeting in Las Rozas, near Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. The day after De Gea's multi-million euro move to the Spanish capital was called off, Madrid pointed the finger at United, issuing a lengthy 10-point statement claiming officials at Old Trafford held the deal up with their delays, but United hit back at their old rivals by publishing a counter-statement on Tuesday evening.(AP Photo)AP Photo/Associated Press

Twitter Reacts as Manchester United Issue David De Gea Transfer Statement

Ryan Bailey
Sep 1, 2015

It's been a tumultuous few days for David De Gea. On Monday evening, the Spanish goalkeeper looked to be within doughnut-stealing distance of a much-vaunted return to Madrid. However, bureaucracy and human error intervened, and his dream of a move to the Bernabeu was scuppered. Real Madridย immediately accused the Red Devils of putting a spanner in the works, to which the Premier League side issued a comprehensive rebuttal:ย 

United's statementโ€”which aimed to absolve the club from blame while stressing their joy at keeping their beloved shot-stopperโ€”was met with great approval from the Twitter's English-speaking fans:

To make the situation even sweeter for the Old Trafford faithful, there is even talk of Real Madrid being forced to give De Gea โ‚ฌ10 million in compensation (as per AS):

Over the past 24 hours, there have been plenty of memes and jokes about the manner in which the world-class goalkeeper will have to perform a sharp U-turn and return to Manchester:

Manchester United fans, naturally, are delighted with this turn of events:

There has also been plenty of discussion about De Gea's Spanish pop star girlfriend Edurne, who is perceived to be a motivating factor for his return to Spain. The blonde singer once described Manchester as being as "ugly as the back of a fridge," which has resulted in endless trolling from gleeful Mancunians:

While a small minority of fans have expressed a desire for Louis van Gaal to keep De Gea on the bench, the majority appear to want him back in the starting XI as quickly as possible:ย 

As you reflect on one of the biggest transfer breakdowns in historyโ€”and one of United's biggest off-the-fieldย successesย in recent yearsโ€”take the opportunity to enjoy this brilliant explanatory GIF that went viral on Monday:

Arsenal Missed Targets ๐Ÿซ