Manchester United’s David de Gea has cleared the air after it was reported that he had been caught in a local supermarket stealing a doughnut.
The goalkeeper, who arrived at Old Trafford this summer for £17.8 million, claims he intended to pay for the item but had forgotten his wallet, whilst staff at the Tesco store said the former Atletico Madrid man had eaten the doughnut in the aisle.
De Gea is quoted by The Sun as saying: “Nothing really happened.
“Me, my cousin and a friend from Spain went to the shop, we were hungry and took the doughnuts.
“We we going to buy more things. I realised I didn't have my wallet so I went out to the car to get it. Nothing more.
“They thought that I was leaving without paying so I tried to explain to them but my English is still not very good and we were there for a while.
“In the end a Spanish girl arrived and we understood each other and in the end they ended up apologising to us.
“They made a big thing out of nothing but I took the whole thing as something funny.”
De Gea was dropped last weekend for the game against Norwich City, but insists it was not a punishment.
“Absolutely not true,” he said. “They're not going to drop me for a doughnut.
“The manager is the one that decides.
“He rotates players a lot and when he thinks it's the right thing to do, he leaves you on the bench.”
He added: “A few of my team-mates gave me a few doughnuts as a joke. But I took it in good humour and thought the whole thing was funny.”