David de Gea back in Manchester United squad after agreeing new deal
Louis van Gaal has recalled David de Gea to his squad after the goalkeeper stunned the world by signing a new contract with Manchester United.
Eleven days after coming within minutes of joining Real Madrid, De Gea signed a new four-year contract at United worth £200,000 a week.
The Spaniard was left out of Van Gaal's squad for the opening six matches because he felt he could not focus properly because of Madrid's interest in him.
But, now that his "suffering" has ended, De Gea is training with his peers and could feature in Saturday's game against Liverpool.
Van Gaal refused to confirm whether De Gea would start the game against United's bitter rivals, but the Dutchman clearly thinks the 24-year-old is now free of the mental turmoil caused by the longest transfer saga of the summer.
"Will he play? I will have to judge the session and he knows that," the United manager said.
"It's logical that his head is now empty and he can concentrate and focus on the match.
"That is a big change from three or four weeks before, so I hope I can see that and give him his first start."
Two months ago senior sources at United confirmed the club had all but given up hope of persuading De Gea to sign the contract that has been on the table since last November.
The chances of De Gea staying looked even more remote last week when Madrid agreed a £29million deal for the goalkeeper with United, who would receive Keylor Navas as part of the agreement.
But Real Madrid's failure to lodge the relevant documents with FIFA before the 11pm deadline cost them the chance to sign Spain's number one.
De Gea wants to draw a line under the whole saga.
"I am delighted to be starting this new chapter in my United career," said the goalkeeper, who has played 175 times for the club in four years.
"I have always enjoyed playing with these great players in front of our fantastic fans. Manchester United is a special club and Old Trafford is an ideal place for me to continue to develop my career.
"I'm looking forward to putting a difficult summer behind me and concentrating on working hard to improve and help my team-mates to be successful."
Michael Carrick is available for Saturday's game after overcoming the calf injury that caused him to pull out of the England squad on Monday.
Andreas Pereira came back from international duty with an injury and will therefore not play. Defender Phil Jones is still out as he continues his recovery from minor thrombosis.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes striker Daniel Sturridge is the fittest he has been for 18 months, but will still handle him with caution.
The England striker, who spent most of the summer undergoing rehabilitation in the United States, returned to full training with the rest of the squad this week after recovering from a hip operation in May.
He will not be ready for Saturday's match but his impending return will boost a goal-shy squad which has scored just two goals in four matches and none in their last two.
"There is no timeline as to when he will be fit to participate in the game but he is obviously back in training, which is good," said Rodgers.
"He looked really sharp in training, probably the best he's looked fitness-wise for 18 months, and it will be really good when he gets back.
"I can never say that (he is over the worst of his injuries) because I don't want to sit here and something happens in a couple of months' time.
"I can only look at what I see and from my experiences in the past I don't want to put any timeline on him coming back.
"I am grateful for the work done in America, for our own medical team who have done a brilliant job to do everything they possibly could to get Daniel back to a level of fitness.
"He has worked hard. He has joined in with the group and we will take it from there, day-by-day."
Liverpool go into Saturday's game having been humiliated 3-0 at home by West Ham before the international break which saw them concede their first goals of the season.
Having only scored twice in four matches - with those coming in the opening two games - the side are also struggling up front.
Last season they went to Old Trafford and enjoyed the majority of chances only to lose 3-0.
Liverpool will be without suspended playmaker Philippe Coutinho after his red card against West Ham, so striker Danny Ings or winger Jordon Ibe are in contention to start.
Source: PAR
