Manchester United’s David de Gea is set to sign a new deal at the Premier League club that could keep him at Old Trafford for the next five years, according to a report in the Independent. The former Atletico Madrid keeper, who is entering his seventh season at United and has been a long-term target for Spanish giants Real Madrid, is reportedly ‘hugely content’ in the north west of England, and appears happy to sign a long-term contract that would keep him at the club until 2023.
That would take him to 11 years of service at United, a remarkable level of service given how close De Gea came to leaving the club in the summer of 2015. Having taken a while to adjust to the rigours of English football after his transfer from the Spanish capital in 2012, De Gea made the no.1 spot his own during his second season, becoming a key part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s last Premier League triumph in 2013. The Spaniard has slowly turned into the game’s best ‘keeper, capable of remarkable consistency and showing superhuman reactions on an almost weekly basis to keep out United’s opponents.
Such performances inevitably led to interest from his home country, with Real frequently attempting to unsettle De Gea. They came close to signing him 2015, as mentioned, only for a fax machine to fail to send the documents required to complete the transfer on deadline day. The player subsequently signed a new deal, and has gone from strength to strength, with little sign under Jose Mourinho that De Gea wishes to leave the club. As such, the news that a long-term deal is close to completion should be a cause for great celebration form the club’s fans; United need to keep hold of their world class talent, not sell it, and sealing De Gea’s long-term future is a key part of that.
