Louis van Gaal acknowledged he could be powerless to persuade David de Gea to stay at Manchester United as he fears the goalkeeper will find it impossible to resist an offer from Real Madrid.
De Gea may have made his final United appearance in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal after injuring a hamstring that is likely to rule him out of Sunday's game at Hull.
Yet while Van Gaal feels the Real Madrid crowd may not love De Gea in the way their United counterparts do, he seemed to accept it is unlikely the 24-year-old Spaniard will stay.
“I don’t think I can persuade him,” he said.
“He is Spanish, he is a Spanish international, now a Spanish club is coming [in for him], his girlfriend is Spanish, his father and mother come every week or every two weeks here [from Spain], so it is difficult.”
De Gea was given a rousing reception by the United supporters and Van Gaal said: “You have seen the fans – unbelievable. When he is going, he is losing that. Here he has a lot of credits.”
Van Gaal’s side took the lead through Ander Herrera but Arsenal levelled through a Tyler Blackett own goal and the Dutchman rued United’s lack of ruthlessness.
“Chelsea can kill the game and that is the difference [in the title race],” he said.
“I don’t think Arsenal can do it because they lost also 1-0 [to Swansea] last week and also Manchester City cannot do it, and I think that is the difference between the top four.”
Arsenal only need one point from their last two games to finish third and manager Arsene Wenger is satisfied with how they have progressed after a slow start to the season.
“If you had asked me in October, I would have said yes,” he said. “Seventeen teams would exchange a position with you.”
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