According to rumours from Spain, former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea is about to join Real Betis.

De Gea is a free agent and may still be signed by any team, even if the transfer window has closed.

Free agents are still permitted to compete in domestic competitions across Europe and may still join European squads over the winter break even though the registration date for playing in European competition has passed.

De Gea is still without a club despite rejecting Saudi Arabia’s proposals. It is thought that he would like a return to La Liga, and Betis can provide him with just that.

Betis clearly needs to find a good goalkeeper, and they cannot wait until the January transfer market, claims fichajes.

The possibility of acquiring David De Gea, a goalkeeper with vast Premier League and Spanish national team experience, is very alluring to Betis.

The Seville team is in serious need of a top goalkeeper, with experienced former Manchester City player Claudio Bravo and Portuguese stopper Rui Silva the only two senior alternatives at the club after this past weekend’s 5-0 humiliation at the hands of a rampaging Barcelona.

According to Fijaches, Betis “does not want to miss the opportunity to sign a player of De Gea’s quality at zero cost.”

The former United employee’s compensation expectations would be one of his problems.

He would be need to accept what might be seen as an embarrassing pay decrease in order to fit in with the Andalusians’ pay structure after having been the world’s best-paid keeper for many years.

For instance, Bravo has a contract worth €23,000 a week. Nabil Fekir, Betis’ top player, makes £112,000 a week instead of De Gea’s £375,000 at United.

The 32-year-old is out of choices, as Fichajes notes, and if playing in La Liga is his top objective, Betis’ proposed offer would be the best option. Valencia is also interested but is having trouble putting a package together.