SO this one is pretty simple. Either David de Gea has had a change of heart and all the stuff that was coming from his camp all summer long – the business with the girlfriend, wanting to go home and his annoyance at Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach – is no longer a factor.

Or he has had some kind of assurance that, should he want to, he will be able to leave in the summer at a reasonable price; a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008 when he committed to stay one more season and not force a move to Real Madrid in exchange for being allowed to leave in 2009.

At the time, everybody denied a deal had been struck – you may recall Sir Alex Ferguson insisting he wouldn’t sell “a virus” to Madrid – and then Ronaldo’s move went through 12 months later.

Whether it is some sort of private agreement or an actual get-out clause is hardly the point. There is no rational reason why a professional footballer would limit his options; not when he has the leverage afforded to one of the world’s best goalkeepers less than nine months from free agency (and less than four months from being able to sign for another club). And not when he is represented by Jorge Mendes.

Football really isn’t that complicated. When things don’t make rational sense – and signing a deal until 2019 would not make rational sense unless he’s had a sudden change of heart – there’s usually some unknown component. Like the aforementioned escape hatch.

Still, it’s a good deal for United. Rather than losing him for nothing, they will get something back for him, should he depart. And while he is due a hefty pay rise – apparently he is quadrupling his wages – the fact is that he was underpaid for the past two seasons, so, all told, it’s not such a big deal.

It was some good news to cap a week that saw Louis van Gaal call Antony Martial’s fee “ridiculous” and the papers run all sorts of stories hinting at player unrest in United’s camp. Though, perhaps, Van Gaal took it a bit too far with some of his reaction on Friday.

“I could not predict [that De Gea would stay] but I had a hope until the end, despite all media saying he was going to Real Madrid,” he said.

Actually, it wasn’t “all media” it was his boss, Ed Woodward, saying it. After all, didn’t Real Madrid and Manchester United agree a sale and submit the necessary paperwork? Or was that whole Deadline Day dispute just something we imagined?

“I didn’t want to sell him and we didn’t sell him,” Van Gaal added. “Now he is here but of course when Real Madrid paid the price we wanted and put the papers in the right order and on time then he would have been sold.”

OK, Louis. Whatever you say.

What he meant, you presume, is that he wanted De Gea to stay, but the club felt they had no choice but to sell and it was only that fortuitous last-ditch incompetence (whether from Real, United or both) that enabled him to stay and sign a new deal. You do wonder though if his words imply that, contrary to widely held belief, he’s not the guy with final say over who comes and goes at Old Trafford.

IT boggles the mind that Hull City midfielder Jake Livermore ever really faced a two-year ban after testing positive for cocaine last year. The Football Association took into account the fact the 25-year-old’s newborn son had passed away shortly before Livermore’s failed drug test.

His manager, Steve Bruce, was full of sympathy and self-blame: “I feel I let him down a bit, I should have realised he was in a dark place and, in hindsight, all of us could have done more and we hope we can help him get over the problems he’s been suffering.”

The line the FA followed echoed Bruce’s. Livermore was grieving and that mitigates the fact he took cocaine.

But the simple point is that it’s not a performance-enhancing drug anyway and it should not be treated the same way as doping.

The way you deal with someone who takes illegal recreational drugs is to give them help and support. They are not cheating, they are simply doing something stupid and dangerous and which brings their club and themselves in disrepute. A two-year ban is not the way to address this.

IT sort of got lost in the shuffle. Maybe because the focus on Tottenham Hotspur was all about Daniel Levy’s Celebrity Death Match with West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace and the failure to land Saido Berahino.

Or maybe it’s because when a Korean player comes over from a German team not from Munich or Dortmund it generally doesn’t make waves, even when said player is a guy who helped his club to the Champions League knockout stage in each of the past two seasons and cost more than the likes of Pedro and Memphis Depay.

Son Heung-min’s arrival from Bayer Leverkusen for £21 million failed to generate much hype but the versatile Korean seems a very good fit for Mauricio Pochettino and could make his debut today at Sunderland.

At 23 years of age, he hit double figures in Bundesliga goals in each of the past three years. A versatile attacking player, he can be deployed anywhere on the frontline and has a unique combination of speed and strength, just the kind of directness that complements the likes of Christian Eriksen.

He may well be the sleeper amongst the Premier League’s newcomers this summer.