David De Gea to Real Madrid: Manchester United to 'make goalkeeper suffer' before deciding his fate as Real prepare £29.3m bid

De Gea is determined to seal a move away from United but his fate lies in the hands of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodard

Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea could still join Real Madrid (Getty Images)

Manchester United are ready to make David De Gea suffer for the rest of the transfer window before making a decision on whether to let him join Real Madrid, according to reports.

De Gea has not made a single appearance for United since their pre-season tour of the United States, and the 24-year-old goalkeeper is angling for a move back to his homeland with Real determined to sign him.

With just a year remaining on his contract, De Gea could leave for Madrid next summer on a free transfer, but that could leave himself open to a year on the sidelines and with the European Championships at the end of the season, opens the door to losing his Spanish first-team shirt.

According to Spanish newspaper Marca, United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will have the final say on De Gea’s immediate future.

Real are willing to pay up to €40m (£29.3m) for the goalkeeper, but United have been angered by the way they were played in Sergio Ramos securing a new contract with the Spanish club last season and could decide to stand in the way of a move for De Gea as a result.

It’s added that if United manager Louis van Gaal had his way, De Gea would remain at Old Trafford for the rest of the season and face the possibility of being left out of the squad completely, but the belief is that Woodward could choose to take a more compassioned view of the move and choose, from a business point of view, to cash in on De Gea before losing him for nothing.

De Gea has been left in the stands so far this season (Getty Images)

De Gea is determined to leave after growing disillusioned under Van Gaal, who declared in one of his many fiery press conferences that he cannot select De Gea due to a “loss of focus”, and he has left the deal to his agent – so-called ‘super-agent’ Jorge Mendes – to secure him a move to the Santiago Bernabeu and takeover from the recently departed Iker Casillas.

As has previously been reported, Mendes could yet be given the boot by De Gea should he fail to complete the transfer, which must go through by 11.59pm on Monday night. Despite the English transfer window remaining open until 6pm on Tuesday due to Bank Holiday Monday, the Spanish window closes at the end of August and means that Real have one day less to complete their business than those on the Premier League.

De Gea took Mendes on specifically to formulate a future move to Real, and should he fail in that respect, the goalkeeper is said to be considering a split from the man who is also responsible for the likes of Jose Mourinho, Radamel Falcao and Cristiano Ronaldo.