Manchester United are ready to play hardball with Real Madrid, and are not prepared to sell David De Gea to Real Madrid, unless Real captain Sergio Ramos is included in the deal.
Manchester United are willing to lose money in excess of A?25 million, and let Spanish goalkeeper move to Real Madrid on a free next summer, unless the Spanish giants sell Sergio Ramos to Manchester United in a swap deal for the 24-year-old goalkeeper, according to the BBC.
Manchester United irked by Real Madrid’s bullying of other clubs
The Old Trafford club have been irked by Real’s recent cherry-picking of some of the World’s best players, some of which were either Manchester United players or top targets. Manchester United had two bids turned down for the Spanish defender, with the last bid being of A?28.6 million.
Earlier, Real Madrid’s new manager, Rafa Benitez had ruled out any possible transfer of Sergio Ramos away from the Santiago Bernabeu. Manchester United are convinced that Spanish shot-stopper De Gea can not be persuaded into signing a contract extension, with his contract set to expire in 2016.
The BBC report included– “The loss of a potential transfer fee is offset by the knowledge that De Gea can be the difference between winning trophies and not, while in turning down a contract offer from United believed to be around A?180,000 a week, the keeper remains on the same A?60,000 salary he agreed when he left Atletico Madrid in 2011.
There is also a wider issue. Since the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo for A?80m in 2009, United have seen Real sign up a succession of big names, including, in the case of Gareth Bale – who signed from Spurs for a world record A?85.3m – players they would like to have signed themselves. The club’s hierarchy are eager to see this situation change.
Given Real’s more cautious spending policy this summer, there is a belief at Old Trafford that the Spanish club’s revenue is increasingly constrained.
Manchester United are looking to take advantage of this, with their revenues soaring. A reason for the potential stagnation in the revenues of Real Madrid is believed to be because of the new TV deals negotiations in Spain, where while earlier giants Barcelona and Real were given the free hand to negotiate their own contracts, as against to centralized deal being agreed from this season.
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Another potential aspect of revenue generation, is through major sponsorship’s, however in Real’s case, all the major deals are already in place, with no scope of a renegotiation in the near future. The Santiago Bernabeu outfit are cash strapped as they are spending excessively, on the long-term bumper contracts of their star players.
What next for Real Madrid and De Gea
With Manchester United having taken a stance to sell De Gea only if Ramos is included in the deal, a deal is unlikely to be agreed in this window, as the Santiago Bernabeu outfit are unlikely to let go of their star defender. Real Madrid would potentially have to wait another season in order to sign their top goal-keeping target.
The Los Blancos have already completed the signing of goal-keeper Kiko Casilla from Espanyol, with the 28-year-old set to compete with Keylor Navas for the starting spot. Real Madrid would likely continue with the same setting for another season, and wait for the arrival of De Gea after the expiration of his Old Trafford contract. Meanwhile, the Red Devils are also said to be edging closer to completing the signing of Valencia’s Nicolas Otamendi, reportedly second in their list of defensive targets, having believed that they would not manage to land their top target in Sergio Ramos.