De Gea 'guaranteed' to stay at United - Mourinho

Santa Clara : Jose Mourinho has given a "guarantee" that David De Gea will stay at Manchester United this season, despite the long-running saga over a potential move to Real Madrid.

Transfer speculation over De Gea returning to hometown club Real has stretched on for the last two years, ever since the goalkeeper was a whisker away from heading to the Bernabeu in the summer of 2015.

But ahead of United's International Champions Cup pre-season encounter against Real, on Sunday, Mourinho has delivered an unequivocal message about the 26-year-old's future.

Mourinho implied that there were negotiations with Real which fell through last summer, yet he believes the prospect of returning to La Liga has now become less appealing for the Spanish international.

"I can guarantee that he's not going this season. My feeling is that it will be very difficult for him to go," said Mourinho.

"He's a very honest boy, very straight. He was contacted for a long time. The club was closed [for negotiations].

"Then we opened [it] because I always have this feeling that when a player has the desire to go, I don't like to stop them. In the end, you don't get from them what you expect.

"So we opened it and then they decided to close.

"I don't think the feeling from him [towards Real] is very good. I see him really happy, focused and working better than ever. For me, 100 per cent he stays with us."

Prior to the £75million ($97.4 million) signing of Romelu Lukaku, United had been keen to do business with Real after pursuing now Chelsea frontman Alvaro Morata.