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| David De Gea looks set to stay at Man Utd |
BRYAN ROBSON has urged David De Gea to emulate Cristiano Ronaldo and stay with Manchester United for one final glorious season.
Like De Gea, Ronaldo wanted to move to Real Madrid in 2008 but was persuaded by Sir Alex Ferguson to stay for one more year and played a huge part in United winning the Premier League, World Club Cup, League Cup and reaching the final of the Champions League in the 2008-09 season.
Former United ‘captain marvel’ Robson believes De Gea should set aside his ambition to move to the Bernabeu and re-claim his place as No1 at Old Trafford for the final year on his contract after being left out by manager Louis van Gaal, who believes he has been distracted by Real’s interest.
“You have to be a professional about it,” said Robson. “He’s under contract at the moment but it’s like the Ronaldo situation. The club weren’t prepared to release him for another year and he had to get his head round it.
“Ronaldo went about it in a professional way, had a great season for us then got what he said was a dream move. If that’s the case and that’s what David has to do, then that’s what David has to do.”
Many people doubt if De Gea – United’s player for the year for the last two seasons – can ever have the same commitment after being axed by Van Gaal at the weekend but Robson is not among them.
“He’s a world-class goalkeeper and I can’t see him having any problems fitting into the team again and performing like he can perform,” he said. “He’s a professional and he will have to get on with the job whichever way it goes.”
United sources insist that their stance on unsettled De Gea, who will become a free agent next summer, has not changed. They will only sell him in this transfer window if Real offer a world-record £35m fee for a goalkeeper, or are willing to trade central defender Sergio Ramos in a swap deal.
Van Gaal expects to make Pedro his sixth summer signing by triggering the £22m release clause in his Barcelona contract in the next 48 hours.
The player is understood to have made up his mind to leave and last night’s UEFA Super Cup final against Sevilla, which was won by the Catalans etc, was expected to be his last in a Barca shirt.
But former Barcelona star Hristro Stoichkov has warned Pedro that van Gaal will ‘destroy’ him if he moves to Old Trafford. And Bulgarian legend Stoichkov accused the “mediocre” Dutchman of ruining Barcelona and United.
“I would never be under the orders of van Gaal,” said Stoichkov. “He’s mediocre. He destroyed Barca and is destroying United. With what he has done to [Victor] Valdes he has shown he is a bad person. Hopefully Pedro listens to me and doesn’t leave.”
*Robson was speaking at the launch of Marathonbet, Manchester United’s Official Sports Betting Partner. To celebrate its partnership with Manchester United, Marathonbet is offering a £30 matched bet to all new customers before the end of August.
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