Ex-Liverpool star: Navas is better than De Gea and I told Arsene Wenger to sign him

David De Gea wanted to leave Manchester United in the summer

DAVID JAMES has boldly claimed David De Gea would not have been Real Madrid's number one goalkeeper had he moved to the Bernabeu in the summer.

The Spaniard was seemingly on the verge of joining Madrid in the summer after months of speculation.

But the deal collapsed on deadline day following an administrative error with the paperwork.

De Gea has since signed a new contract with United while Keylor Navas, who would have moved in the opposite direction, stayed at Madrid.

 

And James, who is a huge fan of Navas, thinks De Gea would not have been guaranteed to be number one.

He said: "You look at Navas at Real Madrid, it's no wonder De Gea didn't go there.

"When you think that Navas is such a good goalkeeper that De Gea wasn't necessarily going to be the number one anyway.

"I think it was possibly a reason, because Navas is awesome. He has been for a few years now.

 

"I enquired a couple of years ago to Arsene Wenger, 'Why don't you go for Navas, £8million or £10million buy-out?' He had (David) Ospina on his card, he went for Ospina, didn't he?"

"Navas has had an exceptional start to the season in Spain and justified my theory that he is up there, if I say the top three - as a loose number - in the world because he is that good.

"I think he is (better than De Gea), yeah. I think his all-round game, he's got a lot more about him. 

"(But) don't get me wrong, David de Gea's performed at an amazing level over the last three years."