Former Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has reportedly offered himself to a Serie A club ahead of the 2024-25 football season.
The Manchester United legend has been without a club in the past 12 months after he was released by Manchester United when his contract expired.
With top European leagues gearing up for the next campaign, he is looking to return to the field as soon as possible.
According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the 33-year-old has told Serie A club, Genoa, that he will be available for the club’s project ahead of the new season.
The report adds Genoa hierarchy are optimistic about having the Spaniard join their goalkeeping ranks ahead of the new campaign but have yet to decide on whether to sign him or not.
David De Gea transfer deadlock since Manchester United exit
It was unfathomable that one of Europe’s best goalkeepers had been out of action for a whole season after leaving his role at a top-tier club as Manchester United.
The former Atletico Madrid goalie fell out of favour at Manchester United when Erik ten Hag took over the reins at Manchester United as the new manager.
Erik ten Hag opted to go for his former player at Ajax and Cameroon international, Andre Onana, for United’s No.1 goalkeeping role. However, reports have it that the Dutch was still interested in keeping the Spaniard although on entirely new contract terms.
Renewal talks with a widely gutted wage offer failed to yield results, and this led to De Gea’s infamous exit.
After bringing his over-a-decade spell with Manchester United to an end, it has been a tale of misfortunes for the Premier League winner.
He was first linked to a move to Inter Milan but could not process the move. Reports claimed talks with the Serie A giants broke down after key details of the contract could not be agreed upon.
After the Inter Milan deadlock, he was strongly linked to Al-Nassr. As per Goal, the Saudi outfit presented a staggering £500,000 weekly offer for the Spaniard but he turned it down, hoping to continue his career in Europe.
When United’s new No.1 goalkeeper, Andre Onana was about to join Cameroon national team for 2023 AFCON, reports emerged linking De Gea to a possible return to Old Trafford on a short-term loan deal but the deal could not be realized.
The dragging deadlock saw the player frozen out of footballing action throughout the entirety of last season. There were projections he could be forced to call time on his career following the 2023-24 season deadlock. Against such predictions, De Gea is hopeful of returning to action with the shock decision to join Genoa.
However, he will have to wait on the decision of the Serie A outfit to determine his fate. Meanwhile, some reports claim the Atletico Madrid Academy graduate is more likely to emerge as Genoa’s first-choice goalkeeper. The club are currently without a high-profile goalkeeper after they sold their No.1 goalie Josep Martinez for €15m to Serie A rivals Inter Milan this summer.
Also, reports of David De Gea’a’s imminent switch to Genoa are coming a few days after he dropped a cryptic emoji on X, signalling he could be back to the pitch soon.
A move to Genoa will see the Manchester United legend dust off his career and possibly return to elite-level football again following the 12-month deadlock.
