Louis van Gaal has said he is unsure if David De Gea will still be a Manchester United player when the La Liga transfer window shuts on Monday.
De Gea, 24, has been linked to Real Madrid all summer long and Van Gaal, who omitted the goalkeeper from the United squad for their first six games of the season amid concerns about his state of mind, claimed to be in the dark if the club's reigning Player of the Year will still be at his disposal after the international break.
Indeed, the United manager maintained is up to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward if De Gea is to remain at Old Trafford.
"I don't know," he said in a news conference after United's 2-1 defeat to Swansea on Sunday. "We have to wait and see but I don't want to interfere. As a manager we have divided our tasks and the task is for Ed Woodward and not for me.
"You can ask all the players but you have to wait and see until Manchester United make an announcement, or the club where he is going to make an announcement. Otherwise he stays."
Van Gaal claimed United have responded well to the uncertainty about De Gea's future by bringing in Argentina international Sergio Romero, who has started their first six games of the season.
"But we have coped with the situation by buying Romero," he added. "That is what we have done as a club to settle that issue. We have done it well."
And he insisted the former Sampdoria and Monaco player should not be held responsible for the defeat at the Liberty Stadium, although many felt he should have saved Bafetimbi Gomis' winner.
"You can write everything you want," Van Gaal responded. "What I always say is defending starts in front and not only in the last line. You can always analyse errors but I don't think that is a good way.
"You have to see the way the team is defending as a team and then I know what errors have been made.
"At the end, of course, the pressure for the last defender or goalkeeper is always higher. I don't agree when you only say the goalkeeper was not so good."