De Gea has been offered a new deal worth £200,000-a-week to keep him at United

Manchester United are preparing for life after David de Gea.

While the club have not given up hope of the Spaniard resisting the attentions of Real Madrid, manager Louis van Gaal is considering whether to bring in back-up to Victor Valdes or a goalkeeper who will challenge for the gloves in the increasingly likely event that De Gea departs.

The talented 24-year-old is yet to inform United of his intentions but the feeling inside Old Trafford is that he will head back to Spain and they want to be prepared should that be the case.

De Gea has been offered a new deal worth £200,000-a-week to keep him at United - which is expected to be more than he would earn at Real.

But that deal remains unsigned and the La Liga giants, who are set to sanction the departure of long-serving keeper Iker Casillas to Fenerbahce, will step up their efforts to sign De Gea when he returns from international duty following Spain’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Belarus in Borisov on Sunday.

A fee between the two clubs for De Gea, who has a year remaining on his existing contract, has not been agreed.

The Madrid-born stopper cost United £18.3m from Atletico in 2011 and United would be looking for in excess of £25m.

Van Gaal is a known admirer of Karim Benzema which raises the intriguing prospect of the 27-year-old France striker becoming part of any deal for De Gea.

Eyebrows were raised when Van Gaal picked up ex-Barcelona goalkeeper Valdes on a free transfer in January