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What is De Gea worth to Real Madrid?

By on June 21, 2015

What Real Madrid want, Real Madrid get. €100 million didn’t stand in their way for Gareth Bale, nor did €94m when they wanted Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009. The Galacticos have held the last five world record transfer fees.

This summer, Real Madrid want David de Gea. If it were like any other deal, Manchester United could’ve named their price and Madrid would’ve paid it. That’s how it went when United sold Cristiano Ronaldo, and clearly that memory won’t have faded for United.

Yet De Gea only has one year left on his contract and appears to be seeking a move to Madrid, so United will feel a need to sell now to avoid him leaving on a free next summer. €50 million would almost certainly outweigh one more season of his contribution if a deal is inevitable.

Of course, it will be problematic for United. Great goalkeepers are a true rarity in world football and the likes of Peter Schmeichel and Edwin Van der Sar were at the root of Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest teams. De Gea is one of those goalkeepers. For United, De Gea is perhaps priceless. But that’s not how football works, so they’ll have to name a price and the longer they take, the greater advantage Madrid have in negotiations.

Reportedly, these negotiations are in fact speeding up. Madrid have had an initial offer in the region of €18 million turned down. A pitiful offer, even for a lowball initial bid. Goalkeepers are known to be undervalued in the transfer market but De Gea was without doubt United’s most important player for the past two seasons. For United to sell for €18m would be a farce. In 2001 – fourteen years ago – Gigi Buffon was sold to Juventus in similar circumstances for more than double that fee.

But United have turned the tables and reportedly are putting a form of a swap deal on the cards — Sergio Ramos for De Gea, it is said. It’s debatable whether the deal is a good one for United, obviously in the context of the circumstances, given Ramos is already twenty-nine. It would, however, be United’s short-term answer to their center-back problems and provide much needed experience.

It’s a much less easy decision for Madrid. He’s their vice-captain and a key starter, but with Raphael Varane on the rise, the damage could prove limited. Center-backs are an easier fix than goalkeepers, however. Plus, there’s be De Gea in goal for insurance. He’d be their one-stop fix for the next decade, at least — there’s no debating his merits thus far.

There are multiple other players that new manager Rafa Benitez could also offload. Pepe is also aging and has lost his starting position. There’s also Sami Khedira and Fabio Coentrao, who was courted by United last summer. It’s not as much a question of whom to get off the books as whom United will actually take. And Madrid could always go the good old route of throwing more money at United, as they did when Tottenham Hotspur wanted Alvaro Morata in return for Bale in 2013.

There is, however, one more tantalizing treat Louis Van Gaal could be after. Yes, that’s right, Cristiano Ronaldo won’t stay out of the frame when United are involved. There has also been speculation of Gareth Bale’s future but it seems much more likely that Ronaldo, already over the thirty-year-old age landmark, would leave for his former club. Although Ronaldo’s is still Madrid’s main goal scoring threat, his departure would give room for Bale to shine. Benitez, meanwhile, is know for squad rotation of the sort it is hard to see Ronaldo tolerating.

Even if it were clearly a better long-term move to sell Ronaldo, since when have Madrid been known to operate on a long-term plan? They could perhaps stall until next summer and force United’s hand on a less lucrative deal. Either way, De Gea is Madrid’s for the taking, providing another entertaining storyline for this transfer season.

Homepage photo credit: Saul Tevelez on Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.