Manchester United lose battle to keep David de Gea away from Real Madrid - reports

Understand United have lost the battle to keep De Gea move to Real all but done

— Neil Custis (@ncustisTheSun) June 2, 2015

Manchester United have been unable to convince David de Gea to stay for at least one more year on a substantially improved contract of £250,000 a year. De Gea had been torn between leaving Manchester, a city that he and most of his family were happy to stay at, but his Spanish girlfriend was far keener to return home to Madrid.

De Gea made his professional name with Atletico Madrid and the chance to replace Iker Casillas appears enough to convince him to force through a move to Real.

It remains to be seen if Ed Woodward can negotiate a good price with the Spanish side, as they have a number of players who may enter the deal, such as Fabio Coentrao, and perhaps the possible transfer of Gareth Bale might come up in any discussions.