Patrick Rees
Seems like Manchester United are going to have a busy schedule next transfer window, as French publication Le10 Sport (h/t Metro Sports) have claimed that Paris Saint-Germain have set their sights on David de Gea.
The Spanish stopper has long been linked with a move away from Old Trafford, but it was Real Madrid who were linked with him all the time. De Gea came agonisingly close to signing for the Galacticos a couple of years back but all the drama went down the drain. Real might have gone empty-handed, but the rumours haven’t died till date.
Manchester United, this time around, face an uphill task of keeping hold of the Spaniard as Paris Saint-Germain have entered the foray as well. The capital club reportedly want to replace both Alphonse Areola and Kevin Trapp, and were massively touted to make a move for Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak this summer. The Slovenian international, however, carries a whopping €100m (£89.2m)release clause on his head and PSG’s recent spending means they cannot really afford to cash this much of capital.
PSG signed Neymar for £200m this summer and also acquired Kylian Mbappe on a season-long loan with an option to make it a permanent one next year for more than £166m. It’s not that PSG don’t have funds. They need to keep their hands off Oblak to comply with the Financial Fair Play.
The report claims that the reason for PSG switching their attention to De Gea is because they believe he would cost less than Oblak but I don’t see how we would make the Spaniard available for any amount less than Oblak’s release clause. De Gea is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world right now and thought PSG are hopeful of closing the deal down for a cheaper amount, they may have to spend way more than the €100m release clause of Jan Oblak to sign De Gea.
What gives PSG a slight of chance of signing de Gea though, is the fact that the Spaniard does not have a release clause. Hence the Les Parisiens can rightly wish of landing him for less than that Oblak’s cost. Furthermore, the aforementioned source has also added that PSG’s director of football, Antero Henrique, has already contacted de Gea’s agent Jorge Mendes, but it now remains to be seen whether the deal takes flight or not.
De Gea, who recently completed 100 clean sheets with Manchester United, sees his current contract running until 2019 and the Devils are well expected to enter contract negotiations with him quite sooner. The Spaniard seems to be happy at United and has not really expressed any desire of leaving the club; just another rumour, maybe.
