Louis van Gaal has admitted the uncertainty over the future of David de Gea is far from ideal for Manchester United, the goalkeeper and his suitors Real Madrid after the Spaniard was replaced at half-time of the 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Chicago.
The manager blamed De Gea for the French club's opening goal, though he refused to go as far as saying he was "poor" in the mix-up that caused Luke Shaw to turn the ball into his own net. Van Gaal's criticism and the Dutchman's view of De Gea's situation of flux suggested he believes the goalkeeper's state of mind is not ideal. Real want to sign the 25-year-old but United's stance is De Gea cannot depart unless Sergio Ramos moves to Old Trafford as part of any deal.
Van Gaal said: “We have a situation that is not favourable for David De Gea but neither for us and neither for the club [REAL MADRID]that maybe he wants to go [TO].”
Of Shaw’s own goal, the 63-year-old said: “Poor I cannot say but he made a mistake. That’s not poor. Everybody can make mistakes but when a goalkeeper makes a mistake it is mostly a goal and that’s the difference.”
Regarding whether De Gea will still be at the club after the transfer window closes on 1 September, he said: “We have to wait and see. It’s the same question as your predecessor.”
This last comment referred to the whereabouts of Ángel Di María. The manager stated he still does not know where Di María is after the forward failed to join the United tour party on Saturday in San Jose. While the club flew home immediately on Wednesday evening after the defeat to PSG, who want to sign the Argentinian, when asked of his whereabouts Van Gaal said: “You can ask that every week. Maybe you know.”
Informed there was no knowledge as to Di María’s location, the Dutchman said: “I don’t know that either.”
Of signing Di María Laurent Blanc, the PSG coach, said: "You know negotiations are in tandem [ONGOING]and as Paris St Germain [AND UNITED]are both big clubs, that can be difficult. But we feel we are close to the end."
Told of these comments Van Gaal said: “I don’t know because I’m not the same manager as Laurent Blanc. I don’t want to answer these questions. With Manchester United we shall announce something when it is already done and not when it isn’t done because it’s a process. I have said that many times. We will have to wait and see and I don’t want to interfere.”
PSG’s second goal came from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, nine minutes after Shaw’s 25th-minute own goal. Yet Van Gaal said: “I’m really satisfied about the performance. You lose, maybe that’s also good, but last year we have won everything [IN PRE-SEASON]and then we lost the first match. Maybe now the sequence is a bit different but I’m not superstitious. In the first half we have created more chances than PSG and they have created only chances with personal errors and you cannot fight against personal errors.
“But I’ve also seen a lot of things good from my team so it’s more the performance than the result. I was rather satisfied.”
(Guardian service)
