De Gea was hauled off at half-time as United lost 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain at Soldier Field. At fault for PSG's first goal, De Gea heads towards the start of the season with only 107 minutes of pre-season action behind him and looking decidedly shaky.

With United having the out-of-favour Victor Valdes and the new Argentine signing Sergio Romero as feasible back-up, it appears as though De Gea will have to start against Tottenham in the Barclays Premier League a week on Saturday.

And Van Gaal admitted that he has an issue to resolve, saying: 'We have a situation that is not favourable for David de Gea but neither for us and the club [Real Madrid] that maybe he wants to go to. Maybe he wants to go to.

'I cannot say he was poor in this game, only that he made a mistake. That's not poor.

'Everybody can make mistakes but when a goalkeeper makes a mistake it is mostly a goal and that's the difference.'

With United saying privately that they will not let De Gea move to Madrid unless the Spanish club give them defender Sergio Ramos in return, they would appear to have backed themselves in to a corner.

On this tour it is actually young reserve goalkeeper Sam Johnstone who has played most minutes but he is expected to join Preston on loan when he returns home.

(dailymail.co.uk)