Man United transfers: Van Gaal must sell De Gea, says Red Devils legend

Manchester United must sell David De Gea to Real Madrid, insists Lou Macari.

The Red Devils goalkeeper has been linked with a big-money move to Real Madrid for most of the summer transfer window.

If you have been offered £20m and you pay £10m on wages, at the end of next season when he is allowed to walk out of the door for nothing, it has cost you £30m to keep an unhappy player

Lou Macari

Los Blancos are yet to meet United’s valuation for their reigning player of the year, with the Red Devils demanding in excess of £30m.

De Gea didn’t feature in their 1-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur after Louis van Gaal started new signing Sergio Romero.

Speaking to talkSPORT, former United player Macari explained why he believes United manager Van Gaal should cash-in on the shot stopper.

“How can he stay? He has been offered a new contract and has turned it down. That tells me he doesn’t want to be there.

“If he wants to play for Real Madrid, that is fine by me. I can fully understand that. I just don’t understand why we are messing about and why we are hanging around.

“If you have got a player who wants to be somewhere else, then you should get the best deal possible. Although everybody thinks £20m is not the best deal possible, if you keep him you are paying another £10m in wages to a player that doesn’t want to be there.

“If you have been offered £20m and you pay £10m on wages, at the end of next season when he is allowed to walk out of the door for nothing, it has cost you £30m to keep an unhappy player.

“I don’t know any football club that would do that and I don’t think we will do it at Manchester United. I can only see him going one place and that is on the plane to Spain and joining Real Madrid. It looks an absolute certainty.”

The 20-time English champions sealed a 1-0 win against Spurs thanks to a Kyle Walker own goal in the first half of the Premier League opener at Old Trafford last weekend.

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Van Gaal has signed Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay, Matteo Darmian and Romero in the summer transfer window.