Manchester United have earmarked Atlético de Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak as the replacement for Real Madrid-bound David de Gea and want to sign the Slovenian before releasing de Gea. Diario AS understands that United have already contacted Oblak and the keeper’s response was clear: “First there has to be an agreement between the clubs involved”.
Atlético paid Benfica 16 million euros for Oblak last summer. A known intermediary has established contact between Atlético and United but told AS that “[Atleti] are asking for a lot of money”. If the Rojiblancos agree to sell Oblak to United, the operation to bring de Gea to Madrid will follow almost immediately. If not, all parties will have to wait...
Madrid have already submitted their first offer to United for De Gea, a fee of around 24 million euros – which the English club rejected out of hand, adding that the keeper “is not on the market”. Reports in England yesterday claim that de Gea is contemplating putting in a transfer request. United could replace him with Spurs’ keeper Hugo Lloris but prefer Oblak.
AS understands that Real Madrid also held talks with Oblak with the hope of adding him to the squad last year but the Slovenian chose Atlético on hearing that Casillas would be staying. Oblak’s first few months at Atleti were fraught; he came under fire for his performance in the 3-2 Champions League group stage defeat to Olympiacos and only won a place in the side after first choice keeper Miguel Ángel Moyà fell injured. Since coming into the team, he has impressed. In Oblak’s circle, the view is that he is a promise for the future - “There are currently four goalkeepers with a bright future ahead of them: de Gea, Ter Stegen, Courtois and Oblak. Oblak is the youngest of the four”.
Madrid have already decided to recruit de Gea, even if Casillas stays. Florentino’s plan is to hold back and wait until the problem resolves itself – in other words, until Casillas announces that he is off to join another team when he finally sees himself competing with de Gea and Keylor Navas.