With David De Gea continuously being linked with a move away from Old Trafford and back to his home country of Spain, De Gea, who came through the ranks at Atletico Madrid, is wanted by city rivals Real Madrid.
Los Blancos are said to trying to negotiate the release of current number one Iker Casillas, who understandably will not go quietly. From Manchester United's end it seems that are not going to make it easy for De Gea to return to Madrid, rightly so, he is under contract at Old Trafford until next summer and United may take the risk of keeping him for another year, although if they do that they risking losing him for free. Manchester United payed Atletico Madrid £17.8million for De Gea in the summer of 2011. After a patchy first few years at Old Trafford, when De Gea struggled with the physicality of the Premier League, De Gea has grown in stature and won the player's and supporter's Player of the Year awards at the club.
Since the end of the season there has been a number of goalkeepers around the world being linked with a move to Old Trafford to replace De Gea. We have seen current Premier League goalkeeps, Petr Cech, Hugo Lloris and Asmir Begovic all said to be on Van Gaal's shopping list. Hugo Lloris recently signed a new contract at Tottenham, so surely United would have to pay plenty to prise him away from White Hart Lane. While Petr Cech could probably prised away from Chelsea for a reasonable price, would Mourinho be happy with selling him to a potential rival? The other question regarding Cech has to be would he want to leave London if he does stay in the Premier League?
Jan Oblak could be on his way to Manchester United
According Spanish newspaper AS, another Atletico Madrid goalkeeper, Jan Oblak is the latest keeper to be targeted by Louis Van Gaal to replace David De Gea. Atletico Madrid seemed to have a conveyer belt of top quality 'keepers. Of course they had De Gea, who they replaced with Courtois. Then Courtois decided he wanted to stay at his parent club Chelsea last season, the Spanish giants then signed Oblak from Benfica for £12.6 million. Oblak moved to Madrid on a six year deal and, as he is only one year into that contract, Atletico would want a substantial fee to let Oblak go. AS report that United have already made contact with Oblak and his response was that there must be an agreement between the two clubs first. A known intermediary has said to have made contact between the two clubs and it is believed that Atletico are asking for a lot of money.
Despite moving to Atletico for big money, he started the season sat on the bench at the Vincente Calderon with Miguel Angel Moya starting the season as the first choice goalkeeper. Oblak really came to prominence for Atletico Madrid when he replaced the injured Moya in a Champions League last 16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen. Oblak kept a clean sheet as Atletico won the game 1-0, the tie went to a penalty shoot-out and Oblak saved the first penalty from Leverkusen's Hakan Calhanoglu as Atletico went on to win. Oblak went on to make 21 appearances for Atletico by the end of the season.