David De Gea to Manchester United: What Is the Hold Up?

Sir Alex Ferguson doesn’t announce signings until they are pretty much done. I can’t remember the last time he was caught with his pants around his ankles without Cristiano Ronaldo in the room, so why is he announcing that we've set a deal in place for David De Gea if, according to David’s lawyer, we haven't?

This could mean one of four things: the player’s agent is being a dick, Atletico are trying to spark an auction, the player is having second thoughts, or we have messed up.

I hate football agents. What’s the point of having an agent go around and take a huge slice of transfer fees in exchange for engineering transfers against the will of, sometimes, both clubs involved?

Why would you put your career in the hands of a man who has a vested interest in getting you as many transfers as possible, and who may base your career arc on the need to make as much money as he can?

Here’s a perfect example: David De Gea has the opportunity to join the Manchester United dynasty as our No. 1 goalkeeper for, perhaps, as many as the next 15 years. Money cannot buy you this kind of status or experience. Any fan can name the great United keepers, but how many Chelsea or City goalkeepers of yesteryear can he name?

There’s a strong possibility that De Gea's agent, sensing a payday, realises that Manchester United are not known for being the biggest paying team in the land and is putting out feelers for a fatter contract somewhere else.

Where would he go, though? City and Chelsea don’t need keepers, Real and Barca are both alright in that department… He would be jumping out of the frying pan and into the abyss if he decided to look elsewhere.

Are Atletico trying to start an auction for the players' services? It certainly makes sense given that they'll most likely lose Aguero and Forlan this transfer window. They’re going to need to do some wholesale rebuilding and, with the experienced Sergio Asenjo and hugely talented youngster Joel Robles already on the club, they’re actually OK for keepers even if De Gea leaves.

Of course, the upside of this is that they’re going to have a load of liquid asset to spread all over Europe’s transfer market, and with the likes of Rossi, Benzema and Joey Barton available they’re going to have an all-night pizza party, snapping up everyone who’s ever been good on Football Manager. They’ll want to squeeze every last cent out of the Aguero, Forlan and De Gea deals, and so an auction is, unfortunately, a possibility.

Could the player himself be having second thoughts? This is a more worrying possibility because in the two above scenarios at least the player wants to join us. These transfers usually end happily.

Of course, if David decides that he’s not sure Old Trafford is the move for him, then he could well be getting cold feet. Fernando Torres stayed at Atletico for far longer than most expected and it did him no harm. Perhaps David is convinced that spending another season out of the relative spotlight at his club is best for his career, or, maybe he’s like Manuel Neuer and doesn’t particularly want to move abroad. Could he have decided that, if he sticks around, Barcelona will eventually decide that they might as well sign a top class goalkeeper to go with the rest of their world class side?

He’s certainly given no real indication that he’s been angling for a transfer at any time. He’s kept a pretty dignified silence whenever transfers have been brought up, and why would he be restless? He hasn’t spent two years in the first team in Spain yet.

The flipside is that this could prove his professionalism. David only arsed about playing for the club that pays his wages, whoever that may be. I don’t mean not arsed though. Think Ole.

Lastly, have we fucked up? Surely Sir Alex is far too streetwise to announce a deal that isn’t an absolute stick-on to go through?

Well, to answer the question I posed at the start of this post, Sir Alex’s trousers were last yanked down by Arsene Wenger in the summer of 2008. We publicly announced that we’d agreed to terms with Cardiff for the transfer for Aaron Ramsey, and it was widely assumed that the deal was only a formality removed from completion.

Not to be, of course, because Arsene Wenger slipped in at the 11th hour to take Ramsey to Arsenal, thus guaranteeing him a career chock full of frustration and nearly moments. Surely David De Gea doesn’t want to go the same way?