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Less than a fortnight after his move to Real Madrid collapsed, David De Gea could yet sign a new contract with Manchester United after his agent arrived at their Carrington training base to open talks with the club.
De Gea is out of contract at the end of the season, a factor which led United to accept a £29m bid from Real that included goalkeeper Keylor Navas moving in the opposite direction with the risk being that he left the club for nothing next summer.
When crucial documents failed to reach La Liga on Real’s side of negotiations, De Gea’s proposed move back to his homeland was ruled to have not gone through before the midnight deadline, and meant that the 24-year-old will remain a United player until January at the earliest.
Manchester United's alternative 23-man squad of transfer targets
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However, after Real ruled out a January move for the goalkeeper, it was reported that the Spain international could yet perform an incredible U-turn and sign a new contract with United, and the arrival of Mendes at their training base will go a long way top smoothing relations between the two clubs.
Mendes, the so-called ‘super-agent’ who also handles negotiations for Jose Mourinho, Radamel Falcao and Cristiano Ronaldo among others, was pictured arriving by car at United’s Carrington training ground. With De Gea poised to return to the United squad and make his first appearance of the season when they take on rivals Liverpool this Sunday, Mendes’ presence will go a long way to reintegrating him into the plans of manager Louis van Gaal, although the Daily Mail reports that executive vice-president Ed Woodward was not in attendance.
Speaking to Spanish radio station Cadena Cope, Perez said: “No definitely not [sign him in January]. We are not contemplating that he comes next year.
“He is there and we have three very good goalkeepers. We have not told him not to sign [a new contract with United]. He has to do what is best for his career. It’s very difficult that he does nothing for a year. When people say: ‘wait for a year and then he comes free’ that has never happened with any big player.”
Perez also dismissed the belief that by failing to sign De Gea this summer, Real will now have to pay the goalkeeper up to £9m in a signing-on bonus should he leave United next summer. With no transfer fee involved, a player is able to generate a much higher personal bonus due to the money saved on a transfer, but Perez insisted that there is no agreement when it comes to De Gea’s future.
“It’s not true,” Perez responded. “Every day something new comes out and we don’t have to deny everything but these things come out and people believe them to be true.”
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