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Denial

'Did you speak to Florentino?' Van Gaal reacts angrily to De Gea exit rumours

The Spain international was widely reported to have been on the verge of a Bernabeu switch in September.

MAN UNITED’S LOUIS van Gaal issued a curiously defiant response to the suggestion David de Gea almost moved to Real Madrid in 2015, challenging the reporter to take it up with Florentino Perez.

The Spanish goalkeeper’s aborted transfer, apparently scuppered by paperwork delays, went down into deadline day folklore in September.

But Van Gaal on Friday appeared to deny such a negotiation ever existed.

“Oh yeah? You think so,” he said in a press conference, when asked over the chances of talks resuming in the coming window.

“You have all the evidence of that? You have spoken with Mr Perez [the Real president] and Mr Woodward [the United executive vice-chairman] about the matter?

You have said that he [De Gea] is going to Real Madrid. I have always said that he stays. You remember that? Now you are asking how long he has to stay. Come on. First you have to say, ‘OK, sorry I have written that. Sorry.’

“Ask him [De Gea]. Maybe he said something about that [leaving]. But to me.”

The manager also believes that Manchester United will not be forced to trim their squad in the close-season, even if they miss out on Champions League football.

With six games remaining United trail rivals Manchester City by four points in the race to grab fourth place in this year’s Premier League.

“I don’t think so but, of course, you have to ask the players. But the players are the participants in every week’s match,” he told a press conference.

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