Last we read, David De Gea was hoping to assume the Manchester United captaincy and was being offered close to a half-million dollars a week to stay at Old Trafford.
Yet the 28-year-old goalkeeper still has not signed the new contract, and is less than four months away from being able to speak with interested suitors.
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Clubs may be willing to meet those salary demands without a transfer fee attached, and The Express says Juventus is hoping De Gea reaches Jan. 1 without a new deal in Manchester.
Juve signed Aaron Ramsey on big money last spring, although not as bad as initially reported. The Turin side pays the Welshman around $8.4 million per season.
The same report says United will go in for Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak should De Gea skip town. Oblak is two years younger than De Gea, and under contract through the 2022-23 season.
Oblak may even be an upgrade over De Gea, but he won’t come cheaply. United’s willingness to pay De Gea a lot is well-covered, and Oblak has been named La Liga’s best goalkeeper for each the past four seasons.
Transfermarkt says Oblak’s value is about $40 million more than De Gea. If the Spanish keeper leaves town, he’ll cost the Red Devils plenty.
And would Oblak see value in a move to United? That’s a big question these days, with no guarantee of Champions League and Atleti investing plenty of resources in staying in La Liga’s mix. Plus, Manchester is no closer to home, Slovenia, than Spain.
