Real Madrid Transfer News: David De Gea, United Claims Made by Florentino Perez

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has provided "proof" that Manchester United were to blame in the collapse of David De Gea's move from Old Trafford to the Bernabeu, but he insists Los Blancos will not sign the Spaniard in January.

United goalkeeper De Gea was widely expected to make his long-awaited switch to Madrid on transfer deadline day, with Real's Keylor Navas going the other way.

However, the deal never went through as the relevant paperwork was not submitted in time.

Perez has now provided documentation that seems to indicate that United director of finance Steve Deaville did not submit the Red Devils' part of the paperwork until the Spanish transfer deadline had passed, per the Mirror's Ed Malyon:

Perez explained the issue to radio programme Partido de las 12 (h/t Malyon): "As one can clearly see from the [FIFA] TMS (Transfer Matching System), the affirmation of Manchester United is untrue, given that they uploaded the De Gea contract at 23:00 BST, outside the registration period for Real Madrid given that it closed at 23:59:59 Spanish time."

The evidence given by Perez goes against United's claim in their statement in the fallout from the botched transfer that they had submitted the paperwork in time: "At 22:58 BST, the transfer agreement was sent back by Manchester United, uploaded onto TMS and accepted—all before the deadline."

The blame game between United and Real is likely to run and run, but the bottom line is that De Gea remains at United and is expected to play a key role for the Red Devils in the 2015-16 season, per Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe:

The 24-year-old is still expected to eventually move to the Bernabeu—perhaps on a Bosman next summer when his contract with United will have expired—but the switch will not happen in January, according to Perez, per Spanish outlet Radio COPE (via Malyon in the Mirror):

"

De Gea has to do what is best for his sporting career. For now we aren’t thinking about what will happen next season, we have three magnificent goalkeepers. We don’t know what will happen inside the next year. In January we are not going to sign De Gea. He’s got to do what he’s got to do. It’s very unlikely that he will spend this year in a white shirt.

Real Madrid did what it had to do, we did everything possible in order that he could come here. De Gea did everything possible not to renew his deal and we had to make an effort to make sure he doesn’t feel abandoned.

"

De Gea was arguably United's best player last season as he saved them numerous points in the Premier League with some outstanding performances between the posts.

For Real, he is the undoubted successor to the now-departed Iker Casillas, and De Gea himself is surely eager to return to the city of his birth, and the place where he started his career with Atletico Madrid.

The souring of relations between United and Real cannot be good for De Gea's prospects of a move to the Bernabeu, and reports have been circulating that the Red Devils are trying to tie the Spain international to a new contract, per Fichajes.net (h/t Louis Sealey in Metro).

This would throw a spanner in the works in Real's plans to sign him for free next summer, but it would surely not derail the switch entirely.

Real need a top-class goalkeeper, they want De Gea and he wants the move. However messy, De Gea will surely eventually become a Los Blancos player, but Real may still be forced to shell out some cash for him.