Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal insists goalkeeper David de Gea still has a role at the club, despite the Real Madrid target sitting out of their opening day victory over Tottenham.
The Red Devils kicked off their Premier League campaign with three points against Spurs, with Kyle Walker’s unfortunate own-goal sealing a 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
But summer signing Sergio Romero was the man in the net for the hosts, with De Gea sat in the stands after he was deemed not in the right mind to start by his boss.
Van Gaal has previously admitted the Spanish glovesman ‘maybe wants to leave’ United, with La Liga giants Real offering him a road back to his homeland.
But the Dutchman is adamant the club do not want De Gea to leave, and hopes the goalkeeper will be back in the starting XI soon.
"Of course," the United manager said when asked if De Gea could play for the club again.
"We have to pay a lot of money for the players we want so we want to sell at the same level when we have to sell.
"We want to keep him, of course. He has been voted the best player here for the last two years.
"But we have observed [De Gea] in preparation and that was not the same David de Gea as last year.
"Of course when the situation has been cleared after September 1 we will look again.”
Romero, a free signing who joined the club less than two weeks ago, had little to do for much of the match, though he did deny playmaker Christian Eriksen twice at the death as Spurs looked for an equaliser.
Van Gaal was impressed by the 28-year-old's performance given the short amount of time he has had with the club.
“I'm happy Sergio did well, he saved us twice,” the manager added.
"We have to improve his building up, but Sergio trained only two days with his fellow players."
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