Madrid, Aug 9 (IANS): The future of Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has became more complicated after the Spaniard was left out of the side which kicked off the English Premier League season with a 1-0 home win over Tottenham Hotspurs.

Manchester United coach Louis Van Gaal had announced his decision of dropping him in the wake of two errors committed by De Gea in a recent friendly game against Paris Saint Germain, considering the ongoing saga of the keeper's on-off transfer to Real Madrid was affecting him, reported Xinhua.

"A human being is more than just a footballer and he is not dealing with it (the move to Real Madrid) well," explained Van Gaal, who handed a debut to new signing Sergio Romero for Saturday's game.

The decision leaves De Gea in an awkward situation: he has a year left to run on his contract and could join Real Madrid on a free transfer next summer after the European Championships, but he would clearly prefer to move this season.

De Gea's partner, pop singer Edurne, has expressed her dislike of Manchester as a city, comparing it to the back of a fridge and the chance to join Real Madrid is clearly attractive to the Spaniard.

Manchester United do not want to sell, but have tried to include him in a deal which would see central defender Sergio Ramos move the other way, but in this aspect they have met with Real Madrid's resistance to selling one of their key players. There is also a suspicion that Ramos is using United as a leverage to get an improved contract from Real Madrid.

Real Madrid have been keen on buying Del Gea, who they see as the long term replacement for Iker Casillas, who joined Porto this season and also as their flagship signing for the coming campaign.

However, with Keylor Navas, who was substitute to Casillas last season, performing well in pre-season and new arrival Kiko Casilla also impressing, there is now a feeling that De Gea is not the priority he appeared to be in June and Real Madrid could prefer to wait 12 months and save themselves a lot of money.

That prospect leaves De Gea with a predicament. For the moment, he has to watch the action from the stands unless he decides to sign a new contract with United or the two clubs come to an agreement about his transfer.