David de Gea is apparently demanding wage parity with Alexis Sanchez to sign a new Manchester United contract.

When Alexis Sanchez left Arsenal for Manchester United in January the biggest surprise was that the club were willing to pay a man approaching 30 half-a-million pounds per week. But that’s exactly what United did in order to ensure that the Chilean did not sign for their cross-city rivals.

As happened at Arsenal with Aaron Ramsey after Mesut Ozil’s mega-deal was agreed, United are now finding that paying stupid money to certain players causes problems when it’s time to renew others.

Fast forward 11 months after Alexis left and he has done nothing to warrant being paid £500k-a-year, let alone a week, but his excessive wages are causing all sorts of problems behind the scenes at United, as you might expect.

It’s why Arsenal were so adamant about keeping a wage structure in place until they threw it out the window last season in Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis’s last hurrah.

United’s most important player, David de Gea, is out of contract in the summer, and having almost left once for Real Madrid, there is no guarantee that he will stay with Jose Mourinho. A report in Thursday’s Daily Mail claims that the Spaniard is demanding wages of around £500kpw to sign a new deal.

It was reported at the start of November that Alexis’s wages were causing problems at United as they tried to get both de Gea and Anthony Martial to renew. Back then, however, de Gea was said to want £300kpw. Now some in the media claim he wants parity with Alexis which would mean £350kpw plus ‘substantial bonuses’ to take that to £500k.

De Gea is also said to be seeking assurances over United’s plans for the future.

“We have the best goalkeeper in the world and I know he wants to stay,” said Mourinho when asked about de Gea’s situation. “I know his agent is happy to do what the player wants and I also know the board want him to stay. They are working on that so hopefully, sooner or later, they reach a conclusion.”

De Gea’s agent is Jorge Mendes, the same as Jose Mourinho’s.

The Daily Telegraph are also reporting a similar story however they highlight that United have a 12-month option on de Gea’s current contract. They also do not mention any ‘demand’s’ on the part of de Gea, merely stating “De Gea stands to earn a huge pay rise if he stays at Old Trafford, with Alexis Sanchez’s contract – which is worth up to £500,000 a week – increasing De Gea’s prospects of earning a huge uplift on his existing £200,000-a-week deal.”