In a most surreal turn of events we may have ever seen at the end of any transfer window, the deal between Manchester United and Real Madrid to send goalkeeper David de Gea to Madrid for fellow goalkeeper Keylor Navas and £29.25 million has broken down due to Manchester United being reportedly one minute late in sending the paperwork to La Liga’s offices to complete the deal.
Let’s get this straight. The 2015 Summer transfer window started on July 1. It has been open for 62 days and a little under 1,500 hours, Manchester United was still a minute late in getting the paperwork through as Sky Sports Guillem Balague reports.
Balague has been on the scene for the transfer and on Sky Sports News, Balague said,
“The news is the documentation was not done on time. David de Gea was at his girlfriend’s house waiting, Keylor Navas was waiting, everything was signed and sent to Manchester but the stories coming out of the Spanish media are that Manchester United sent the paperwork back at 12:01 Spanish time, so past the deadline.”
“Everything was agreed, there was a little bit of a battle of figures, but everybody was waiting in their places. The Bernabeu was full of people, but the documents signed by Real Madrid and Keylor Navas did not come back from Manchester United on time.”
“The Spanish media are fuming and saying this is revenge for what happened with Sergio Ramos.”
“There is no precedent for a deal to be done past the deadline. Fabio Coentrao was in the same situation a few years ago when he was going to potentially move to Manchester United.”
“The documents did not arrive in time, Real Madrid asked for five minutes and the league said no, so there is no precedent for this to be overruled. I know in England if everything is agreed you can have an extension but that has never happened in Spain and is not expected to happen.”
Since then, more information has come in from people saying that Man United submitted the paperwork on time to it was submitted on time but not in a format in which Real Madrid and/or La Liga could read.
Here is the latest we know right now. La Liga confirmed that the paperwork didn’t arrive in time and it was reported that was because Manchester United sent the paperwork in a “format that couldn’t be opened at the LFP” according to AS.com. According to Balague, “FIFA will look at the case tomorrow. Both Real Madrid and Manchester United are pushing for it to happen.”
As you can tell, this has caused a frenzy of banter on social media by people just reacting to the absurdity of it all. Here is a sampling:
David De Gea: For fax sake.
— Kristan Heneage (@KHeneage) August 31, 2015
PIC: Manchester United's IT department currently installing Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader. pic.twitter.com/yAL2AeBCxf
— 32 Flags (@32flags) August 31, 2015
#ThatMomentWhen Ed Woodward decides to send the David De Gea paperwork after the deadline.
https://t.co/L1tglt83Fe
— BBC Sporf (@BBCSporf) August 31, 2015
When those all-important David De Gea documents don’t show up on time. pic.twitter.com/UofWE92Wrs
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) August 31, 2015
Looking forward to The Ed Woodward Movie starring Jim Carrey. pic.twitter.com/eWB8rvLKqJ
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) August 31, 2015
Ed Woodward trying to send the De Gea documents. #MUFC #RMCF pic.twitter.com/TikFv1pQFR
— FantasyYIRMA #FPL (@FantasyYIRMA) August 31, 2015
In defense of those bungling De Gea deal, my son is pushing summer math packet right to deadline too. He also could've been done months ago.
— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) August 31, 2015
Manchester United can't get paperwork in on time and Wayne Rooney is still their only striker. Ed Woodward is a god.
— Soccer Gods (@soccergods) August 31, 2015
The "incorrect document format" excuse didn't work with my college professors and it really shouldn't work here either.
— 32 Flags (@32flags) August 31, 2015
We’ll have updates as this story progresses. If it does end up that this deal doesn’t go through, this leaves Manchester United up the biggest creek without a paddle. The Victor Valdes deal with Besiktas didn’t go through and now this. Add to it that Sergio Romero now knows that Man United wants someone to come in and replace him and they now have hours to find someone better than Romero. So United has two disgruntled goalkeepers who are world class and will not play for United, a goalkeeper who is young but raw, and United sold Anders Lindegaard to West Brom today. As of Monday night, United is currently down to Sergio Romero and Sam Johnstone (currently on loan at Preston North End) as their only goalkeepers Louis Van Gaal is considering to play. If La Liga, UEFA or FIFA doesn’t make this deal go through tomorrow, Van Gaal may need to compromise and start playing his world class goalkeeper.
