Jose Mourinho has indicated that Manchester United will do all they can to extend David de Gea’s contract.
The Spain goalkeeper, who almost joined Real Madrid in 2015 and continues to be linked with a move there, has a contract that expires in June 2019, although United have the option to extend it for a further year.
United manager Mourinho, though, says that the club are keen to negotiate a new contract soon, with British newspaper reports suggesting they would look to get him to commit to the club until 2023.
The 27-year-old, signed from Atletico Madrid for £18.9 million ($29.8 million, 22.7 million euros) in June 2011, was United’s players’ player of the year in 2014 and 2015, and Mourinho sees him as a crucial part of the club’s bid to return to the very top of the English and European game.
“We are not going to let the option disappear,” Mourinho said. “A goalkeeper like he is, obviously at a club that wants to get better and better, we are not going to let that year option go away.
“But obviously, we are going to try to give him a contract that keeps him here, for much more than the length of that option.”
Asked if contract negotiations with De Gea were under way, Mourinho said: “I don’t know. I just trust the board and the work they do. I don’t negotiate with players, I don’t discuss numbers in contracts, I just say what is obvious, and any of you could say the same, that he is to keep.”
