While Manchester United are planning to give David de Gea a start against Braga in the Champions League, rumors circulating around the player hint to the fact that just over a season of Premier League football is enough for the rotation goalkeeper, setting his sights on returning to Spain and playing for Real Madrid.
This isn’t just about De Gea competing for a spot in the starting XI with Anders Lindegaard, but probably mostly it. The criticism over his inability to command the area and handle crosses, conceding two goals (although not his fault) in the match against Stoke, might be another reason he’s getting fed up with life at Old Trafford.
There’s the girlfriend angle. He’s dating singer Edurne García Almagro, a Spanish pop star, who travels from Madrid to Manchester quite often in order to see her main squeeze. Don’t be surprised that some whispers from her and from him to his agent are the reason behind all this. Manchester United, despite the £18.3 million fee they spent on De Gea which hasn’t exactly paid off up until now, still believe that the future lies with de Gea.
And then there’s always the Real Madrid appeal, usually too strong for Spanish and Latin players in general. Although few keepers in the world enjoy a cemented spot in between the posts as Casillas does in Madrid, he is 31, and the having a bit of competition doesn’t seem like such a bad idea for Real executives. Maybe it’s also Jose Mourinho not being Casillas’ biggest fan, and vica versa, when it comes to their personalities clashing, and he wants another high profile option on the bench.
Don’t make any mistake – If de Gea joins Real Madrid, it means a few seasons, barring injury to Casillas, of sitting on the bench. But not playing in your home country, spending more time with your girlfried, seems to be better than spending it in Manchester. At least from the rumored de Gea way of looking at things.