Former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been keeping fit at National League club Altrincham, hinting that he could return to football soon.
De Gea left Old Trafford as a free agent last summer after contract talks failed to deliver a new deal, and has remained without a club since weighing up his next move.
The former Spain goalkeeper, who is only 33 years old and is now 33 years old, has spent almost a year out of the professional game.
De Gea continued to train throughout that period. On Friday night, he posted a video on Instagram as he worked on testing his mind and management.
It was filmed at Altrincham's J. Davidson Stadium and shared with his 15.5m fans with the caption: “We remember. We rebuild. We come back stronger.”
Earlier in the week, an outdated Instagram story showed the same training and a photo that read, 'Loading'.
Fifth division Altrincham have not played in their entire 133-year history, most famous for their FA Cup record of 17 kills against football league teams. But the Robins are in just their second season as a professional outfit and will enter the National League play-offs.
There is no suggestion that De Gea is about to join his local club after 12 years as a United player after making his home in the affluent southern city of Manchester. But the captions, and the video is set to AC/DC's Back to Black at least marked by a long-awaited return to football in some form in the near future.
Over the past ten months, De Gea has repeatedly turned down interest from the Saudi Pro League. Former United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo was hoping to lure him to Al Nassr, while Al Shabab were also options. In Europe, Bayern Munich showed a brief interest in their search for more cover, while Real Madrid are another touch point when Thibaut Courtois is injured.
De Gea has also pursued his interests outside of football, particularly with his esports team, Rebels Gaming.
He was close to securing a new contract with United at the end of last season, even signing a proposed £200,000-a-week deal. But the offer, which was almost a 50% cut from his previous salary, was eventually withdrawn before the club signed the papers.
That was then replaced by another proposal and the salary that was being considered for this player was reduced, even though he was upset with the way this program was handled. A few weeks after De Gea officially became a free agent, United splashed out big on Andre Onana, whose footwork was seen as the best fit for the style Erik ten Hag wanted to implement.
