Manchester United to give David de Gea lots of money out of both common sense and desperation

Manchester United will try to make goalkeeper David de Gea the best paid player in the Premier League in order to keep him at the club.

The Spanish international had his contract extended by another 12 months in January 2019, and with his contract running down, he could leave United on a free transfer.

A report in The Times suggests that the club are willing to throw eff loads of money at De Gea in order to prevent him leaving on a free transfer.

He would be offered £23 million a year, which would be a higher weekly wage than Mesut Ozil’s £350,000, and even more than Alexis Sanchez (is this true? It feels like he’s on about half a million a year, so maybe this report is a bit of a shot in the dark. If you have access to sensitive commercial communication at United, then please do clarify matters in the comment section).

The total outlay on the contract would be around £90m, which would probably be the equivalent of what they’d have to spend on a replacement anyway, and there are no obvious candidates who would be available immediately, nor are their any ageing ‘keepers who could be used as a stop-gap.

United need two central defenders, a right-back, a right winger and possibly another striker in the next transfer window, but there are complications with any proposed Saudi Arabian takeover, given the changes the club might want to immediately make in transfer policies, and depending if they would want to bin or appoint a director of football.