United braced for De Gea bid

Manchester United are braced for a bid from Real Madrid for David De Gea next month as they gear up for a fight to keep the Spain goalkeeper.

United and Real are both in Los Angeles on their pre-season tours and there is thought to be concern that Real could seek to unsettle De Gea ahead of their International Champions Cup match in Santa Clara a week on Sunday.

The teams are also due to meet in the European Super Cup in Skopje, Macedonia, on Aug 8, by which point Real may have formalised their interest in De Gea.

United believe they are in a much stronger position to retain De Gea than two summers ago, when he had a year left on his contract, only for a £29million deal to collapse.

De Gea has two years left to run on his £200,000-a-week contract, with the option of another 12 months, and United value him at in excess of £60 million.

United are confident De Gea will not agitate for a move and were impressed by his professionalism throughout Real’s 2015 courtship.

But De Gea is keen on the idea of joining Real and a return to his home city of Madrid. His camp hope that the Spanish giants will not leave a move as late as they did two years ago.

Of more immediate concern to United is their pursuit of Croatia winger Ivan Perisic, who struggled to conceal his dismay that a deal has yet to go through after posing glumly for a picture with the rest of Inter Milan’s squad. United still hope to push through a deal before Inter fly to China on Tuesday.