Things are really heating up between Real Madrid and Manchester United over the collapsed deal of David De Gea. So much so, that we are not at the point where two of World footballs biggest and most ‘professional’ teams have resorted to a he-said-she-said spat via their websites. Fitting really that their argument should amount to war by admin, given that all of this unseemly business came about due to a delay (on which side, you can choose) in filing the requisite papers on time.
Their war of words kicked off this morning, after De Gea’s proposed move from United to Madrid officially collapsed. Real Madrid got the ball rolling, expressing how pissed off they were with United by posting a 10 point statement on their website detailing how the deal went down, absolving themselves of any wrong doing.
Not to be outdone by Madrid’s cutting 10 point statement, United have now released their own rebuttal via their website, opting for bullet points rather than numbers. Bullet points? They’re not fucking about are they? See below:
UNITED STATEMENT ON DE GEA TRANSFER
Manchester United notes Real Madrid’s statement on the attempt to sign David De Gea and sell Navas to Manchester United. The club feels compelled to provide some clarification with the following facts.
– Manchester United did not seek contact from Real Madrid for the sale of David. David is a key member of our squad and the club’s preference was not to sell.
– No offer was received for David until yesterday.
– At lunchtime yesterday, Real Madrid made its first offer to buy David. A deal was agreed between the clubs, which included Navas being transferred to Old Trafford. The deals were dependent on each other.
– In the last several hours of the process, with Navas at the Real Madrid training ground, Real Madrid were controlling the documentation processes of David, Navas and Real Madrid. Manchester United was in control only of the documentation of Manchester United.
– Manchester United sent transfer documents for both players to Real Madrid at 20:42 BST. David’s documentation was returned by Real Madrid to Manchester United without the signatory page at 22:32 BST.
– At 22:40 BST, minutes before the deadline, major changes to the documentation came through to Manchester United which immediately put the deals at risk.
– Only at 22:55 BST were the documents that are needed to cancel David’s contract received by Manchester United from Real Madrid.
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Anyway, with the transfer window now finally closed meaning we won’t have to be subjected to the likes of these pictures for a few months, expect the mud slinging via websites and other official media channels to continue until it’s midnight again on a January evening next year.
