Real ‘did everything’ to sign De Gea

Real Madrid say they did everything they could to sign Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, after missing the deadline by two minutes.

The 24-year-old’s £29m deal and that of Keylor Navas going the other way fell through with Real saying United took eight hours to reply to contracts.

Real have released a statement  explaining the timeline of events and it is not thought they will appeal.

United have reiterated they provided all the documents before the deadline.

De Gea, who is out of contract next year, has not played this season. Navas, 28, has been Real’s number one since the club allowed Iker Casillas to join Porto.

Real Madrid’s statement:

• United only opened negotiations over De Gea on Monday
• The clubs reached a rapid agreement on the transfer of De Gea and Navas
• Real submitted contracts at 13:39 Spanish time, with United sending minor modifications back at 21:43
• United entered De Gea’s details, but not Navas’s into Fifa’s Transfer Matching System (TMS) at exactly midnight
• Real received the full documentation at 00:02, by which time the TMS had closed

Manchester United said:

• United sent De Gea documents but Real could not download them because of IT issues
• Real did not send De Gea registration documents to the Spanish league on time

De Gea joined United from Real’s city rivals Atletico Madrid in 2011 in an £18.9m deal.

After several high-profile errors in his first few months in England, he established himself as one of the league’s top keepers and made 175 United appearances in total.

United are now set to continue with four keepers for the Premier League season – De Gea, Sergio Romero, who has started all their games so far, Victor Valdes, whom the club failed to sell to Besiktas, and Sam Johnstone.

In January De Gea, who will now go on international duty with Spain, will be able to open talks over a free transfer move to Real next summer.