David De Gea Reportedly Wanted over Thibaut Courtois for Real Madrid Transfer

Real Madrid are preparing to pull out all the stops in their bid to finally land Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea this summer after deciding the Spaniard is a higher priority than Chelsea stopper Thibaut Courtois.

That's according to The Mirror's John Cross, who also wrote that Blues winger Eden Hazard remains a top target for Los Blancos, although De Gea accounts for the bulk of their attention in the goalkeeper hunt.

Real Madrid are thought to have lost faith in incumbent No. 1 Keylor Navas, who was rested in Saturday's 3-0 win over Alaves, where substitute stopper Kiko Casilla managed to keep Real's first league clean sheet in almost six weeks.

Despite Real's advances in recent years, De Gea has remained quiet on the prospect of a return to his native Madrid, and Sky Sports' La Liga expert Guillem Balague has said the Red Devils star will not rock the boat:

Since coming to Old Trafford as a replacement for Edwin van der Sar in 2011, De Gea has gone from strength to strength in his development and now sits as one of Europe's top goalkeepers—arguably one of the best in the world.

De Gea famously came close to joining Real on deadline day in the summer of 2015 before a paperwork error scrapped the move at the 11th hour, when Navas was understood to be moving in the opposite direction.

United team-mate Ander Herrera has spoken of his desire to see his compatriot remain at Old Trafford after recently spending time with the Spain squad on international duty.

"I tried not to bring up the De Gea to Real Madrid topic," Herrera said, per The Mirror's Liam Corless. "It’s difficult for him to one day be at one place and then to be at another the next. He learned a lot from this. It has made him more mature. I want him to be the one defending Manchester United’s goal. Hopefully it will be like that, but anything can happen in football."

Not only has Balague reinforced the notion Los Blancos are in the hunt for De Gea, but he also described Navas as being "sentenced" at the Santiago Bernabeu:

It's also believed to be a major factor that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez finds himself in an election year, and Hugo Cerezo of Spanish daily Marca reported last month that he had "promised" supporters a Galactico.

Perez has never failed to live up to those promises in previous election years, with the only question being whether De Gea will be the man who arrives to help the Los Merengues' figurehead retain his place on the throne.