Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is confident that goalkeeper David de Gea will sign a new contract at the club. When asked about De Gea’s market value, Mourinho said, “His [De Gea’s] valuation is zero, because he is a Manchester United player who, as soon as possible, will sign a new contract.
He likes it here, we love him, we want him to stay, he wants to stay, so when a player is not in the market the value is zero. A goalkeeper is a player and sometimes people forget that. A goalkeeper wins points and wins titles, so he is as important as another player.
Regarding the rising prices of players, Mourinho said, “The old story of ‘I’d pay that for a striker, but I wouldn’t pay it for a goalkeeper‘ is old fashioned. The market now understands that and I am happy for the keepers. But with David, it is a collective situation involving the player, his agent [Jorge Mendes] and Manchester United. The agent didn’t create a war to try to achieve his objectives. He respected the club, he respected the player, the player was always keen to stay and happy to do so and the club understood how important he was. So we have always tried to give him the conditions to make him happy, so credit to all three parties.”
Mourinho added, “I don’t want to be disrespectful or arrogant about other keepers and say Courtois is not good or Manuel Neuer is not good – there are so many. What I am saying is that I wouldn’t swap De Gea for anyone.”
Manchester United play their second Premier League fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion today.
