De Gea isn’t a Madrid player yet – Rafael Benitez

The goalkeeper has been strongly linked with a move to the club but their coach is giving little away over their pursuit of the former Atletico Madrid man.

Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez says Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea is not his player “at the moment” and revealed Keylor Navas is his current No.1.

Goal understands that United have given up hope of retaining the Spaniard’s services as Real close in, though Louis van Gaal’s side are keen to extract the highest possible fee from the Spanish giants.

Madrid have also made a move for Espanyol goalkeeper Kiko Casilla, with negotiations with United reaching something of an impasse following the departure of Iker Casillas.

De Gea’s contract expires at the end of the 2015-16 season, meaning he will then be available as a free agent, but Benitez refused to elaborate on the speculation in Melbourne on Friday.

“De Gea is not our player at the moment and that is not our subject at the moment,” Benitez told reporters as Real prepare to kick off their pre-season against Roma in the International Champions Cup on Saturday.

“We have some great goalkeepers here at Real Madrid. Navas is our number one at the moment. I have spoken to him. He is more experienced than our other keepers so he is at the front.”

When asked about Real’s pursuit of Casilla, Benitez again gave little way, insisting that “it is very hard to bring in players”.

“If we have more competition for positions it only means the group and that position gets stronger,” Benitez added.

“We are not just competing with a player but with many clubs. All clubs have resources. It is not just the case of a player becoming available.”

-goal

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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