What about David de Gea himself?

Real Madrid fans will have been hoping to see him in action, and although David didn't really didn't have a lot to do, what he did do, he did well.  He'll have been happy just to have got ninety minutes under his belt after the recent events.  Having been on the bench the other evening for Spain's 2 - 0 win over Slovakia in Oviedo, David will have been well pleased to have been given a full game.

With all these on-off transfer deals the one person who usually gets forgotten in everyone's eyes is the player himself.  Despite all the reports that this move to Madrid was going to happen and that David would be a Real Madrid player within a few days etc, the poor lad must have wondered just what exactly was going on.  It's never easy to be the subject of transfer talk at any time even if the club doing the talking is Real Madrid; but it's even harder when you start to feel as though you've become a tennis ball being batted between two very big-hitting players.

There's the dressing room scenario to deal with every day.  Team mates wonder if you're really committed or if you're just biding your time until the much-publicised move actually takes place; and if it doesn't - as in David de Gea's case - then they're wondering whether the manager is going to pick you for the next game or if everybody's thinking "he's ready for the off; he won't play this weekend".  "This weekend" then stretches into the next one and then into the one after that, and before long somebody else has established himself in your position and you're lucky if you even get a game in the reserves.

Without a regular game, it's not only the skill level that suffers, the mental side takes a battering too.  When you consider that the whole David de Gea saga has seemingly gone on for months it's easy to see how a player's confidence can take a knock.  Any player left out of any team for any reason other than injury will immediately be at a psychological disadvantage because no matter how big the player or how big (or small) the club, the intonation is always there that for your own specific playing position you are considered to be second best.  In many cases, the difference can be having the belief that it's the other people who consider you to be second best, and that being able to maintain a positive attitude and approach is what carries you through until you're back in the team again.

Additionally, if you're not playing because you are the subject of transfer speculation, this spills over into the support and the fans begin to wonder whether you actually want to play for your team.  Football supporters rarely get told the complete story and so speculation then becomes rife that you don't want to be there anymore; and if you happen to be sitting in the stands watching the games then you become an easy and accessible target for the supporters' anger.  The longer you're out of the team, the more difficult it then becomes to convince people that despite everything you are in the right frame of mind and you want to play.

In reality, David de Gea will have had little control over the transfer events other than to nod in agreement that he would love to play for Real Madrid and that he would be happy to sign for the Bernabeu club if an agreement could be reached between Real Madrid and Manchester United.  All other links in the chain of events intended to lead David back to Spain and to Madrid will have been actions over which he personally will have had absolutely no control.

David de Gea won't have known whether he's been coming or going - literally - in the last few weeks and after the Madrid move didn't happen this time around, the supporters at Manchester United will be querying whether he'll play for them again, or if he's even interested in playing for them again.  Furthermore, such events as those we've witnessed in the last few weeks will have done absolutely nothing to encourage any relationship between player and management.   David de Gea will have been delighted just to get a game on Tuesday; but he's likely to be wondering who his next first team appearance is going to be for.  Will it be for Manchester United or Spain?

In both the English and Spanish press; a lot of the talk has been about how David de Gea and Louis Van Gaal are due to have a meeting to sort out a few issues; not least whether David is going to be picked for Manchester United in the near future.  Some reports have suggested that David will be in United's goal this weekend against Liverpool.  Although the media can speculate, decisions like these are made by the management, and Louis Van Gaal may feel that even though David de Gea has just kept goal for his country he may not feel he's up to keeping goal for United's first team.

It must be a thing about Spanish international goalkeepers that makes managers and coaches feel that way as I'm sure I've heard about similar situations in the past.  Either way, it's David de Gea who now finds himself the one in the middle.  I hope, for his sake, that the whole situation resolves itself sooner rather than later.