The Spain goalkeeper, 27, has 18 months left on his current four-year-deal, signed in September 2015 after a deadline day move to long-time admirers Real infamously broke down at the last minute because of a faulty fax machine. 

United have an option to extend that deal by another season but, rather than find themselves in a position where they have to trigger it, they want to start negotiations with De Gea on a new contract aimed at putting him alongside midfielder Paul Pogba as their highest-paid player on about £300,000 a week. 

Manager Jose Mourinho sees keeping De Gea – whose representative Jorge Mendes is also Mourinho’s agent – as crucial in his plans to re-establish United as Premier League and Champions League winners.

Ahead of their home clash with manager-less Stoke, Mourinho said:  “We are going to try and give him a contract to keep him here for much longer than the option we have on him.

“I trust the board and the work they do. I don’t negotiate with players, I don’t discuss numbers and contracts, I just say what is obvious – and everyone of you would say the same – a goalkeeper like David is to keep at a club that wants to be better, better and better.” 

As for Stoke, they now face an embarrassing climbdown in their bid to land Martin O’Neill.

Republic of Ireland boss O’Neill tops Stoke wish list again following the bungled attempt to land Quique Sanchez Flores from Espanyol.

Stoke thought they had wrapped up a deal to bring in the former Watford boss Flores as successor to Mark Hughes.

Now the Potters power-brokers could be made to pay to convince O’Neill that he’s their man again.

The former Aston Villa, Sunderland and Celtic boss baulked at the suggestion of taking the job on a short-term basis and now finds himself in an excellent bargaining position.

That pushed Stoke towards the Spaniard and they ended up offering him a five-year contract.

But Flores is believed to have been unhappy with issues over backroom staff and just how much of his salary would be slashed should he fail to keep Stoke up.

He decided to stay put at the last minute, just as Stoke were hoping to have him in the stands for tonight’s game.

Stoke, mindful that they are running out of time, hope to now convince O’Neill – the first choice of chairman Peter Coates – to return to top-flight management and put his reputation on the line.

But that won’t come cheaply now with the 65-year-old knowing that he is now very much in the driving seat.

He wants a lucrative deal of at least two-and-a-half years with a seven-figure bonus built in for steering them to safety.