EUROPEAN giants Real Madrid and Manchester United exchanged recriminations Tuesday after goalkeeper David de Gea’s proposed move to the Spanish club broke down at the 11th hour.

    Madrid accused United of sending the documents needed to complete the deal after the Spanish deadline had passed, but the English club laid the blame at Madrid’s door and said they were “delighted” by the outcome.

    Madrid seemed set to conclude the long-running transfer saga late Monday with a deal worth between 30 million euros (US$33.9 million) and 40 million euros and involving Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas joining United.

    But Spanish league sources confirmed that the player had not been registered and Madrid admitted they had sent the required documentation to the league after the window closed at midnight local time (2200 GMT) Monday.

    “Manchester United introduced into the Transfer Matching System (TMS) the details for the transfer of David de Gea, not those for Keylor Navas, at 00:00 Spanish time, sending simultaneously to Real Madrid the signed transfer contracts,” Madrid said in a lengthy post on their website Tuesday.

    “Real Madrid received the complete documentation at 00:02 and tried to access the TMS, but this was already closed.

    “Madrid, facing the possibility of a contentious situation in the transfer of the player, decided to send the contracts to the Spanish Professional League, even knowing the deadline had already passed.

    “In conclusion, Real Madrid did everything necessary in every moment to try to finalize these two transfers.”

    A few hours later, United responded with a statement of their own in which they said that they had acted “appropriately and efficiently.”

    United said Madrid had returned an incomplete version of a key document, made “major” late changes to documentation and had sent the documents needed to cancel De Gea’s contract just five minutes before the deadline.

    United claimed that they had uploaded the transfer agreement onto the TMS before the deadline and said that the deal fell through because Madrid did not upload documentation relating to De Gea in time.

    Despite Madrid’s long-standing interest in De Gea, negotiations between the two clubs for the player did not begin until Monday. Madrid have not indicated whether they intend to appeal to football’s governing body FIFA in an attempt to force the transfer through. (SD-Agencies)