New De Gea deal is the good news supporters need

FORGET signing Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic or even Romelu Lukaku. United’s best piece of business under Ed Woodward has been keeping David de Gea out of Real Madrid’s clutches. By accident or design.

Just imagine trying to replace the world’s best goalkeeper at a time when the Glazers are further tightening their belts and Woodward has backed boss Jose Mourinho to the tune of just £67.5m this summer?

How do you find someone in De Gea’s league – let alone a player who would not cost United an absolute fortune?

Take Atletico Madrid stopper Jan Oblak. Preparing a contingency plan in case De Gea left last summer, United held meetings with the Slovenian’s representatives in the spring.

And while Oblak was keen on the move, even when Atletico were handed a transfer ban, it would have taken an eye-watering fee for the La Liga giants to let one of their prized assets go.

Something that United, ultimately, did not have to consider as they stood firm when Real Madrid came calling for De Gea once again.

It will have only been natural for De Gea to look wistfully at what has happened at the Santiago Bernabeu since his deadline day move fell through in 2015.

Had it gone through, the 27-year-old would have had three Champions League winners’ medals in his back pocket; United, in contrast, have failed to make it past the last-16 since 2014.

But the Spaniard knows he is already on the cusp of legendary status at Old Trafford. The keeper has never forgotten the reception United fans gave him after several weeks out of the team while that Keeping David de Gea is the best business done by Ed Woodward transfer saga played out three years ago as close friend Ander Herrera recalls.

“I remember that difficult summer when everyone was talking about Real Madrid and he played the first game at Old Trafford and everyone was singing his name and he told me: ‘This is amazing, they are the best,’” he told reporters earlier this summer.

After another difficult summer at the World Cup, De Gea looked delighted to be reunited with his club team-mates at the UCLA last month and, unsurprisingly, got a huge reception on his first outing back at Old Trafford. So what happens next? De Gea, technically, only has 10 months left on his current deal – although United do have the option of extending that contract by a further year.

Club chiefs were confident the Spaniard would sign a new deal before Thibaut Courtois’ move to Madrid, but it now appears a mere formality.

At a time when United fans are desperately searching for a bit of positivity after a turbulent summer, that is the kind of announcement that would go down a storm in the coming weeks.

Over to you, Ed.