Mourinho opens up on Real Madrid bid for De Gea
Jose Mourinho can “guarantee” David De Gea will be staying at Manchester United this summer, saying Real Madrid missed the chance to sign the goalkeeper.
The 26-year-old has established himself as one of the world’s best goalkeepers since arriving from Atletico Madrid six years ago.
Such performances have led to admiring glances from Real Madrid, where De Gea would now be playing his football was it not for a deal collapsing acrimoniously in September 2015.
Talk over recent months suggested another move from the Spanish capital was imminent, although United always remained confident of keeping him.
United boss Mourinho now says there is no chance De Gea will leave this summer – and suggested Real may have burned their bridges.
“I can guarantee that he’s not going this season, that I can,” Mourinho said. “And my feeling is that it will be very difficult for him to go.”
“It will be very difficult for him to go because he’s a very honest boy, very straight.
“He was contacted for a long time, the club was closed. Then we open because I always have this feeling of when a player has a desire to go I don’t like to stop players to go because in the end you don’t get from them what you expect from them if they want to move and they don’t move.
“So we open it and then they decide to close, and I don’t think the feeling for him is very, very good.
“I see him really happy and focused and working better than ever, so for me 100 per cent he stays with us.”