David de Gea is not leaving Manchester United, apparently

Ever since David de Gea came within minutes of joining Real Madrid a couple of years ago, there has been a general feeling that his Manchester United career is on borrowed time. However, José Mourinho has quashed recent reports linking the goalkeeper with a move to the Santiago Bernabéu, in a quote rather unusually posted on the official United website. Mourinho said the following:

“I can guarantee that he is not going this season. My feeling is it will very difficult for him to go. He is a very honest, straight boy. He was contacted for a long time, the club was closed and then we opened. I always have this feeling when a player has a desire to go, then I don’t like to stop players because you don’t get from them what you expect from them if they want to move and they don’t. So we opened it and then they decided to close it. I see him really happy, focused, working better than ever and 100 per cent he stays with us.”

It’s slightly unfortunate that Mourinho follows up the cast-iron guarantee of the opening sentence with a slightly more non-committal second. But the general message is clear: it’s highly unlikely that United will lose their goalkeeper — at least in the next year. He’s still got two years left to run on his current deal, and there is reportedly an option for a third. Woohoo!