Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea’s agent meets Juventus as Old Trafford exit edges closer
The Serie A champions enlist the super-agent to help them build a formidable squad in the next two transfer windows
JUVENTUS have enlisted super-agent Jorge Mendes to help sign Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea — and Jose Mourinho will undoubtedly be fuming.
The Portuguese middle-man represents De Gea, who has entered the final year of his contract at Old Trafford.
United have an option to prolong the deal by another 12 months but should an extension not be agreed with the Spaniard he could leave for nothing in 2020.
SunSport understand United side are fearful of losing De Gea when his contract expires.
Mourinho admitted last month he was "not confident" of the former Atletico Madrid remaining at the club.
And in an effort to see that he moves to Italy, Juve have turned to Mendes to make the deal happen.
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Italian publication Tuttosport claim Mendes has been asked to help bring two of his clients, De Gea and Colombia international James Rodriguez to the club next summer.
Rodriguez is currently on loan at Bayern Munich from Real Madrid but his future beyond the end of the season is uncertain.
Sporting director Fabio Paratici is also understood to have declared an interest in signing Wolves' Ruben Neves, another player connected to Mendes, in the January transfer window.
But the news that the agent is set to try and bring De Gea to the Allianz Stadium will not go down well with Mourinho, who is also among his cartel of star names.
As United have suffered a rapid decline since the exit of Sir Alex Ferguson, De Gea has emerged as the side's most important player.
He has been named the club's player of the year in four of his seven seasons since arriving from Atletico in 2011.
Eric Steele coached the Spain international in his first two campaigns in England and is not surprised he seemingly wants to leave.
Speaking to the Goalkeepers' Union podcast, Steele said: "If you ask David now, he is fully committed to Manchester United.
"He has a fantastic rapport with the players, the fans, but he wants to be a winner and inevitably he might look at his pathway now and think 'will I get that at Manchester United' certainly at the moment they are still in the Champions League.
"But he sees other clubs getting bigger and stronger, it is becoming more competitive.
"And he is now 28, is coming into his prime years so it is understandable that he may be looking.
"Long may David stay in the Premier League and long may he continue but you would understand why if he wants to win that ultimate prize. The one thing that he's missing is he wants to win that Champions League.
“Will he be gaining that at Manchester United? I hope he does I really do for the sake of the club because when you have been at somewhere like Manchester United you cannot stop being a supporter just when you leave it.
“So ideally I want him to stay and give great value to Manchester United and to the Premier League.”
De Gea is among 10 United players out of contract at the end of the current season, a group which includes Anthony Martial and Juan Mata.