David de Gea could be on his way home.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Spanish goalkeeper has said his goodbyes to his Manchester United teammates ahead of a long-rumoured move to Real Madrid. Sky Sports indicates that Real "expect" the move to happen. 

De Gea, 24, would unseat Iker Casillas for the number-1 shirt at Real. Casillas's drop in form in the past several seasons has been marked, but Costa Rican international Keylor Navas was unable to grab the mantle of first-choice 'keeper in his first season at the Bernabeu.

The allure of the Spanish giants is obvious for de Gea and is one that United is powerless to counter. De Gea is a Madrid native and his girlfriend, Spanish singer Edurne Garcia, still lives in the city.

'He is Spanish and his girlfriend is Spanish, now a Spanish club is coming, his father and mother come every week or every two weeks here, so it is difficult," United manager Louis van Gaal conceded about de Gea's situation last month. "But we would be very happy if he stays.''
 
The move back to Spain might also force La Roja manager Vincente Del Bosque to reconsider where de Gea fits into his national set-up. While Casillas has fallen out of favour with his club, he's still firmly ensconced as the national team's number-1. With Del Bosque seemingly favouring players who play in La Liga (to wit, only six of the 24 players called up for Spain's latest Euro 2016 qualifier play their club football outside of Spain), de Gea could finally break through as the country's first choice with a move to Real.

The Telegraph believes that transfer negotiations for the player will begin in the £25 million-range, which is only slightly higher than the £18 million United paid for de Gea in 2011.

United has been attached with Real's Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema in recent months. It's possible that United will attempt to use de Gea as a makeweight in a transfer for one of the pair.