UNITED SPECIAL SPEND TO Dave’s goal is World Cup after further Madrid quiz AVOID PRICE OF DEFEAT
DEALS WILL REQUIRE HUGE CHUNK OF REMAINING BUDGET
DAVID de Gea insists he is not thinking about anything that can ‘divert you or upset you’ ahead of the World Cup after again being asked about his future.
The 27-year-old has just a year left on his current deal at Old Trafford but United have the option of extending it by another 12 months.
De Gea signed that four-year contract back in 2015 after coming perilously close to joining Real Madrid – only for the deal to collapse on deadline day after paperwork was not submitted before the Spanish transfer window closed.
With veteran Keylor Navas still between the sticks for Los Blancos, those links have not gone away – despite Madrid not currently having a manager following Zinedine Zidane’s departure.
Jose Mourinho previously said there was ‘no chance’ of de Gea leaving United this summer and Spain’s No.1 is just focused on the task at hand.
“My future? The important thing is the World Cup and not to think of anything else that can divert you or upset you,” he told reporters.
“You have to be focused on having a good World Cup. Hopefully we can go far and win.”
De Gea was named United’s player of the year for a record fourth time last season following a number of remarkable performances, and also secured his first Premier League Golden Glove after keeping 18 clean sheets. SO far, so good? United’s main priority this summer was signing a replacement for retired skipper, Michael Carrick, and that’s where much of the club’s focus has been in 2018.
A scout was dispatched to each of Shakhtar’s home games in the final two months of the season and Fred was quickly earmarked as the ideal summer signing.
Just a few weeks later, United had agreed a £47m fee with the Ukrainian giants and the player was ferried to Carrington for his medical. Having publicly spoken of the importance of signing a new central midfielder since January, Jose Mourinho had got his man.
Another signing soon followed – teenager Diogo Dalot arriving amid competition from 13 other clubs – meaning United have nearly spent half of the total outlay they splurged last summer in just the opening weeks of the window.
With that unofficial deadline of July 15 in mind, when pre-season training gets underway, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has wasted no time. So what’s next as United turn their attention to a centre-back, left-back and back-up striker?
Despite having five centre-backs on their books, the priority remains signing a quality defender this summer and M.E.N. Sport understands United have eight names on their radar – Raphael Varane, Toby Alderweireld, Jerome Boateng, Kalidou Koulibaly, Milan Skriniar, Alessio Romagnoli, Jose Gimenez and Caglar Soyuncu.
Alderweireld remains an option this summer – and United are odds-on favourites to land him should he leave Spurs – but M.E.N. Sport understands the 29-year-old is not the preferred name on the club’s shortlist.
It is understood that scouts have expressed concerns about Alderweireld’s ‘profile.’
Tellingly United are believed to value the player, who will have a £25m release clause in a year’s time, at around £20m less than Tottenham’s asking price of more than £70m. United’s other options broadly break down into three categories – unrealistic, difficult and doable – and the reality is it will require a fair chunk of their remaining summer budget to get any deal over the line. What is noticeable, Alderweireld and Boateng apart, is how young each of the targets are – all aged between 22 and 26 – as United continue to keep tabs on younger players this summer. But, on the face of it, prioritising a move for a centreback seems a little strange. United only signed one bigmoney defender, Victor Lindelof, last summer while Marcos Rojo was handed a new three-year deal in March. Rojo, too, was knocking on his manager’s door at the end of last season after making just five appearances in 2018 as Mourinho moved away from using three at the back as he did in the winter. But, whatever the need for another left-back and striker, Mourinho feels it is a price worth paying.