Revealed: Who sabotaged David De Gea’s deal to Real Madrid

Manchester United have accused Real Madrid of torpedoing their own bid to sign David De Gea.

As the bitter war of words between the two football giants escalated, the Old Trafford giants rubbished claims they were to blame for the deal collapsing late on Monday.

They believe Real president Florentino Perez started having doubts about the transfer and that the process was deliberately delayed so it did not get over the line before the Spanish transfer deadline at 11pm (UK time).

A package worth £29million, which would have seen De Gea join Real and fellow keeper Keylor Navas come the other way to United, was agreed by both parties.

The 24-year-old had wanted to move to Madrid, where his pop-star girlfriend Edurne Garcia is based. The singer has told friends: "I'm very disappointed with what has happened."

The farce left both clubs pointing fingers at each other after the required paperwork was not submitted to La Liga and FIFA officials before the required deadline.

Real fired the first shots by claiming they had done everything by the book and accused United of holding it up - including an eight-hour delay over returning documents.

The Spanish club issued a 10-point statement on Tuesday afternoon, defending their role in the negotiations and criticising the way United had acted throughout the process.

That prompted United to hit back with their own statement later in the day, rebuffing Real's claims and accusing them of being the ones who ultimately messed up the deal.

The Red Devils are adamant their documents were submitted in time and stated that the FA were willing to support this at an appeal with FIFA — a route Real were reluctant to go down.

Senior United sources claim Real then tried to make late adjustments to the details of the deal taking De Gea to the Bernabeu, too close to the deadline for them to be ratified.

United also claimed the Spanish side refused to let Navas travel to Manchester to undergo a medical, a tactic which also played a key part in delaying the deal and it ultimately not going through.

The statement from Old Trafford said: "It is our understanding that the deals couldn't happen because: Real Madrid didn't upload David's documents onto TMS in time (Manchester United did).

"Real Madrid didn't upload David's documents to the Spanish league in time, per reports it seems some 28 minutes after the deadline.

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