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David De Gea is edging closer to committing his long-term future to Manchester United, sources have told ESPN FC, with the goalkeeper unconvinced by the merits of a move away from Old Trafford to Juventus or Paris Saint-Germain.
United staved off the prospect of the 28-year-old leaving on a free transfer next summer by securing De Gea’s services until June 2020 by triggering a one-year option to extend his contract last month.
But the club remain determined to negotiate a new long-term deal with De Gea — who was ranked at No. 1 among the world’s goalkeepers in the 2018 ESPN FC 100 — that will tie him to United until well into his thirties.
United know of interest from Juventus and Champions League round-of-16 opponents PSG in De Gea, who arrived at Old Trafford in an £18.3 million move from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2011.
But even before the dismissal of manager Jose Mourinho on Tuesday, the United hierarchy had become aware of De Gea’s readiness to consider a new deal worth in the region of £350,000 a week to stay at the club.
De Gea has made no secret in the past of his desire to return to Spain — his pop star girlfriend Edurne Garcia continues to live in Madrid — but a proposed move to Real Madrid collapsed in August 2015 due to the Spanish club’s failure to complete the necessary paperwork before the transfer deadline.
Madrid have since signed Belgium international Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea and, with Barcelona happy with Germany keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, De Gea accepts that his options for a return to his home country are now severely limited.
With United facing a battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League, De Gea will need assurances of the club’s plans, post-Mourinho, to challenge for the biggest honours before committing to a new contract.
But sources have told ESPN FC that Juventus would be unable to come close to matching United’s contract offer and that PSG’s interest is now on the wane due to the club’s belief that France international Alphonse Areola can become their long-term goalkeeper, either before or after Gianluigi Buffon leaves. The French champions announced on Thursday that Areola, 25, had signed a new contract that runs until 2023.
De Gea, meanwhile, has grown to enjoy life in Manchester after almost eight years in the city and sources have said that the only real threat to United’s hopes of keeping him is the unlikely event of Real or Barca entering the market for a new goalkeeper.
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