De Gea has been a long-standing target for the La Liga giants and they came very close to clinching a deal for him two years ago before a deal collapsed.

The 27-year-old put the saga behind him and he ended up putting pen to paper on a new four-year contract.

Real have up until this point, refused to waver their stance on De Gea, with Zinedine Zidane not completely sold on Keylor Navas.

However, according to Spanish paper AS, Real have all but given up on De Gea and they are interested in a deal to bring Atletico Madrid star Kepa Arrizabalaga to the Bernabeu.

Arrizabalaga was thought to be close to agreeing a bumper contract extension which would see a £66.5million release clause inserted.

AS claim that talks over a new deal have broken down between club and player.

The report also suggests Arrizabalaga, who got a call-up to the Spain national squad would be the ideal long-term solution to Navas.

De Gea dampened talk earlier this week that he could leave Old Trafford when he said: “I think that the players who leave Spain are not paid as much attention as those who stay in Spain and people forget about us a little.

“The English culture cares for and loves its players a lot."

United resume Premier League duties at home to Newcastle on Saturday (5.30).