DE GEA SENT TO TRAIN WITH RESERVES

DAVID DE GEA’S Manchester United career hangs in the balance after it emerged the keeper was made to train with the reserves, having been left out of the squad for last night’s match at Aston Villa.

Sportsmail learned last night that de Gea had trained with the second string yesterday and on Thursday as United boss Louis van Gaal continues to isolate the player from his first-team squad amid speculation of a summer move to Real Madrid. Van Gaal has repeatedly questioned de Gea’s focus over the past month and insists the Spaniard stated he did not want to be selected for United’s opening league games games against Tottenham and Aston Villa. As Sportsmail revealed yesterday, sources close to de Gea utterly deny the suggestion the player has refused to play. They also say de Gea has no intention of rising to van Gaal’s bait by refusing to train or play while he remains contracted to the club. Yesterday, de Gea (below) was ‘irritated’ that his professionalism has been called into question by van Gaal and he believes he has trained perfectly well over the past fortnight. Van Gaal suggested on Thursday that de Gea had lowered his standards. ‘We had been observing him and he was not so good,’ said van Gaal. ‘He was not the same David de Gea as before.’ Real Madrid are monitoring the situation but remain unwilling to match United’s £35million price

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