THE REAL STEAL!
Madrid’s cheeky plan to grab De Gea and keep Ramos
REAL Madrid have outwitted Manchester United in the transfer saga surrounding David De Gea and Sergio Ramos.
United have told Real to accept a final bid of £35m for Ramos or forget about signing De Gea in return.
Starsport understands if Real agree, United will accept a reduced bid of around £25m for De Gea.
But despite Real president Florentino Perez desperate to sign the keeper, it appears he has a plan to keep Ramos and land De Gea on the cheap in 12 months. Reports in Spain claim De Gea and Real have reached an agreement that would see the 10time European champions pay him a £3.5m signing-on fee next summer. In return, De Gea would not be able to negotiate a new, long term contract with United and would join Real on a free transfer. De Gea, who is on United’s America tour, will be free to talk to other clubs in January but has set his heart on Real.
Perez has guaranteed De Gea the tax-free lump sum and is willing to wait until the start of next season.
United chief executive Ed Woodward fears Perez will hold out for £45m for defender Ramos.
Woodward knows £45m is too much for a defender who is 29 and will have no sell-on value.
United have spent £80m on Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay and Matteo Darmian.
But boss Louis van Gaal faces missing out on Ramos and losing De Gea for nothing next summer.
The Dutchman insists United will not go into the season underprepared despite cutting back on pre-season friendlies.
He wants to avoid a repeat of 2014 when after returning from their pre-season tour, United failed to beat Swansea, Sunderland and Burnley when the Premier League began.
Van Gaal blamed the poor start on too much travelling, too many games and not enough time on the training pitch over the preceding summer.
Discussing the current tour, Van Gaal said: “The most important thing is always the training hours on the pitch because that is the time when the players have to co-operate in team tactics.
“In the first two matches I will play all the players at the most for 45 minutes.
“The Barcelona and PSG games are the third and fourth matches and at that point we will play with certain players for 60 minutes and others for 30 minutes.
“It will also be good to see where we stand then against those kinds of teams.
“But for me the most important match is the first match of the Premier League.”