<|endoftext|> next season, with United poised to qualify for the competition.
It is unclear what Louis van Gaal, who has attained more control than David Moyes did and spoken unflatteringly about Falcao in recent weeks, makes of the proposal to retain the striker.
United aim to sign the majority of their transfer targets before July so that they are with the club for the start of pre-season. Falcao, though, is likely to be involved in the Copa America, as are Marcos Rojo and Angel Di Maria, with Colombia, which ends on July 4. United's first pre-season game is in Seattle 13 days later.
Van Gaal revealed last month United had offered De Gea, 24, 'a lot of money', believed to be £200,000-a-week and Mendes, who has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with United dating back to Cristiano Ronaldo's 2003 transfer, is mindful not to antagonise United and allow his client to leave on a free next summer.
De Gea's £18.9m transfer to United in June 2011 was reportedly delayed so Mendes, who had signed a deal to represent the former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper, could replace De Gea's former agent, Hector Rincon.
United have also scouted Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte, who is believed to now be represented by Mendes after he sacked his agent in November.
De Gea's new contract could include a buyout clause, although there is a feeling amongst some United players the Spaniard has appeared distracted since his return from the international break.
De Gea carelessly conceded a Christian Benteke goal and was nutmegged by Eden Hazard in Chelsea's win over United last month before experiencing a shaky performance at Everton.
The Spain goalkeeper, however, is destined to claim the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for the second successive season and was named in the Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year.
See how United fans rated the players at West Brom<|endoftext|>by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jul 26, 2013
By Paul Kennedy
Jim Nantz
Gus Johnson
Billy Packer
Dick Vitale
Dave O'Brien
Eric Wynalda
Cobi Jones
Eddie Johnson
Grant Wahl
Rob Stone
Warren Barton
Heather Mitts
Joe Machnik
Jurgen Klinsmann
I'll say up front I am more aguy rather than aguy. Just like I was more aguy rather than aguy.I don't like screamers. I'd like to say that's the Berkeley in me, but I know others will say that's just me.But I have to say I'm warming up to Gus Johnson. Or I'll put it this way: I like Gus a lot more on FOX's Gold Cup coverage than on its European coverage. And credit for that goes to FOX and the supporting crew around Gus for making the Gold Cup more than just the Gus show.The cult of personality is big in sports television, but it is new in soccer television.This isn't the first time soccer has had an outsider take over the booth.-- by his own admission a "baseball guy" -- called the 2006 World Cup for ABC and ESPN and got ripped.(The New York Times got so many complaints about O'Brien and the coverage it asked readers to top sending them in. O'Brien responded by saying, "There��s kind of a petulant little clique of soccer fans. There��s not many of them, but they��re mean-spirited.")But O'Brien wasn't exactly a national celebrity like Johnson, whose background is in football and college basketball and who comes with his own unique style that emphasizes, shall we say, the excitable.Yes, the anti-Gus forces were quickly out in force, just as O'Brien says those petulant soccer fans were out to get him in January 2006, long before the World Cup started and his mistakes came flying.But the advantage that Gus has is that he has five years to get it right. That's when FOX will take over for ESPN as the broadcaster of the World Cup.Johnson's first games this winter from Europe weren't great, but he didn't bomb either, so the experiment continues. Like all broadcasters new at a sport, he had a tendency to tell stories like he was reading them off the notes prepared for him and he'd get overly excited -- his forte -- at the wrong times, the buildup to goal-scoring opportunities that weren't or chances that weren't as close as they first seemed or were nullified by offside calls or fouls.The fear on a broadcast of a game like last Sunday's USA-El Salvador that was loaded with goalscoring opportunities -- the final score could have been something like 15-5 --