David de Gea does not want to play for Manchester United

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea told Louis van Gaal's coaching staff that he did not want to play for for the side.

"We talked with him and he fully agreed with our decision," Van Gaal said. "I have one assistant coach and another assistant coach so we speak about that kind of thing together. We have a goalkeeping coach, Frans Hoek, and I'm not doing everything alone.

"Frans Hoek ... he has a meeting with David de Gea and he asked him: ‘Do you want to play?'" Asked what the reply was, Van Gaal said: "‘No.' Then I have to take the decision. It is a process. We had been observing him in preparation, he was not so good, he was not the same David de Gea as before. He was my best player last season. According to the fans, he was the best of the last two years."

It was at this point that Van Gaal and his coaching decision elected to bring in Sergio Romero for the start of the season.

Before everyone gets an attack of the vapours, let's consider a couple of things. One, saying you don't want to play isn't the same thing as refusing to play. Two, Van Gaal's English is not perfect, so it's hard to tell who said what first, and to what degree, and three, Van Gaal has rated him simply not as good as he used to be, which is possibly the case. It seems like De Gea will probably be able to join the squad when he gets over the disappointment of the transfer to Real Madrid not happening for a year, or that he will leave for them before the end of the transfer window.

So everyone has Romero in their fantasy football side then?