Manchester United and David de Gea will reach contract agreement, claims Kasper Schmeichel

David de Gea and Manchester United will reach an agreement over fresh contract terms, claimed Kasper Schmeichel on Monday night.

The Spain international is currently engaged in a contract stand-off with his club of 12 years over his renewal terms, with United keen to lower his £375,000-a-week wage packet.

Speculation suggests the two parties are closer to an agreement than they had been, though the dotted line remains unsigned with the weeks ticking down until De Gea is a free agent.

Schmeichel, who now plays for Nice in Ligue 1 after leaving Leicester City last summer, foisted praise upon De Gea and insisted that an agreement would be reached, largely owing to the Spaniard’s abilities between the posts.

‘I think you’ve got an incredible goalkeeper and an incredible servant to the club,’ he told Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

Kasper Schmeichel said he expects Manchester United and David de Gea to come to contract agreement

The Spaniard is currently engaged in a stand-off with the club over fresh contract terms

Schmeichel labelled De Gea an ‘incredible’ goalkeeper and said finances, as much as anything, would motivate the club to hold onto him

‘Eleven to 12 years to be at any club for that long is a difficult thing. To be No 1 at (Manchester) United is an incredible achievement.’

Much of the criticism that has been thrown De Gea’s way this season has been in relation to his perceived shortcomings with the ball at his feet.

There have been a number of high-profile incidents this campaign, most recently away at Sevilla in the Europa League, in which he has appeared to struggle with the demands of manager Erik ten Hag’s brand of football.

The Dutchman is insistent that his teams must build from the back, which has exposed glaring weaknesses in De Gea’s game. Schmeichel defended De Gea, saying people were pulling him up on such incidents, but at the same time refusing to note his positive contributions. 

‘Looking at this season he’s been asked to play a completely different way than he’s ever had to play,’ he said. ‘From what I’m seeing, people notice the things that have gone wrong but there’s a lot of things that have gone right as well. I think he’s playing at a really high level with his feet. 

‘The actual goalkeeping side of it has never been a question because it’s outrageous how good he is. 

The Dane also spoke glowingly of prospective United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe – who owns Nice

‘I think United are looking at it like what would it cost them to replace him. It would cost you north of £60m and you already have a guy who’s a top class goalkeeper and from the looks of it wants to stay so I think they’ll reach some kind of agreement with him.’ 

Meanwhile, Schmeichel was asked for his two cents on prospective United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe, who owns Nice through his company Ineos, is one of two bidders who are viewed as the front runners to buy the club from the Glazer family, should they decide to sell, who have owned United since 2005.

‘One of the biggest reasons i joined (Nice) was because of INEOS and because of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, their vision and how they want to evolve their sports because they’ve been successful in every other sporting venture they’ve invested in,’ he said.

The former Leicester goalkeeper claimed that people were ignoring all of the positive aspects of De Gea’s game at present

Dutchman Erik ten Hag is insistent that his sides must play out from the back – which has exposed glaring weaknesses in De Gea’s game

‘Jim (Ratcliffe) is a big Manchester United fan, I think that speaks a lot to United fans, there’s someone coming in that cares about the club. 

‘From my own experience at Nice he’s a man that’s present, that comes to games, a guy that’s knowledgeable about football, has got a vast knowledge about performance in general. 

‘He has great people like Dave Brailsford working for him – again [someone that is] present, that’s the main thing of any club I’ve played at, you look at Leicester as an example, the owners are present. 

‘There’s not this divide between the people running the club and the people who are there on a daily basis. I’m biased in hoping Ineos are the preferred bidders, but let’s wait and see.’