Manchester United set to trigger one-year extension to keep goalkeeper David De Gea at Old Trafford

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Manchester United are ready to trigger the one-year extension on David De Gea’s contract as they try to persuade the Spain goalkeeper to sign a new deal at Old Trafford.

De Gea has 17 months left on the four-year contract he signed in the wake of a collapsed transfer to Real Madrid on deadline day in 2015.

However, United included a 12-month option in the terms and are set to activate it next season as Old Trafford chief Ed Woodward opens talks with De Gea’s Jorge Mendes over the player’s future.

Manchester United are ready to trigger the one-year extension in David De Gea’s contract

De Gea has 17 months left on the contract he signed after a move to Real Madrid failed in 2015

Real continue to covet the 27-year-old former Atletico Madrid keeper, but United boss Jose Mourinho is determined to hold onto him.

‘David is to keep, any one of you would say the same,’ said Mourinho.

‘Obviously we are going to try. Mr Woodward is not on holiday – he barely has holidays – and of course he’s going to try to give him a contract that keeps him here for much longer than the option we are going to execute.

‘It’s obvious that we’re not going to let the option disappear. A goalkeeper like he is, and obviously a club that wants to be better and better, we are not going to let that year option go away.

‘I don’t negotiate players, I don’t discuss numbers and contracts, I just trust the board and the work they do.’

Mourinho insisted he does not negotiate with players but places his faith in the club's board 

Meanwhile, Mourinho has again responded to Antonio Conte in their unseemly public spat by suggesting the Chelsea boss is trying to paint himself as a victim.

Conte’s insults include accusing Mourinho of being ‘fake’ for criticising Claudio Ranieri’s poor English and then wearing the Italian’s initials on his training top when he was sacked by Leicester last February.

But the United manager insisted that was one incident where he proved that he is ‘man enough to apologise’.

‘I don’t enjoy (the rows),’ he added. ‘When I start I take the responsibilities of that, and I’ve started many times.

The United boss also said Chelsea boss Antonio Conte 'is trying to paint himself as a victim'

‘When I don’t start, it’s quite funny for me to see other people on the other side acting like victims when they’re not the victims. But, really, I don’t enjoy. That’s why for me it’s over.

‘Sometimes it’s my fault. Sometimes it’s other managers’ fault.

‘In my case, when I think it’s my fault and I should behave in a different way, I’m the first one to apologise – like I did with Ranieri when I had the chance.

‘That’s when our relations went from bad to good and from good to very good because I was man enough to apologise.'