Louis van Gaal has warned Real Madrid that they will have to spend a lot to buy goalkeeper David De Gea from Manchester United.
De Gea was replaced by Sergio Romero for United's 1-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday and watched from the stands as his teammate impressed between the posts with a number of late saves.
Van Gaal has already said that he does not think De Gea is in the right frame of mind to play for United while talk of a transfer to Madrid is ongoing and he re-iterated his point in post-match.
"I cannot say [when De Gea's future will be settled] because I'm not the most important part -- that is the player and the club that wants to buy him," Van Gaal told BT Sport.
"He is our best player for three years chosen by the fans and we cannot let him go easily -- we have to spend a lot of money for the players we want to buy."
Romero, a free signing who joined the club less than two weeks ago, had little to do for much of the match. The Argentinian pulled off a crucial block to deny Walker before United took the lead and also saved two good efforts from Christian Eriksen at the death as Spurs looked for an equaliser.
Van Gaal was impressed by the 28-year-old's performance given the short amount of time he has had with the club.
"We have observed (De Gea) in preparation and that was not the same David de Gea as last year,'' Van Gaal said."Of course when the situation has been cleared after September 1 we will look again. But I'm happy Sergio did well. He saved us twice.
"We have to improve his building up, but Sergio trained only two days with his fellow players.''
Romero's fellow new signings Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian also all started the game and Bastian Schweinsteiger came off the bench to make his debut too.
Van Gaal gave debuts to new signings Romero, Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian from the start and was pleased with the result.
"I told Memphis he doesn't have to play with too much eagerness and passion and that also counts for the whole team," he added.
"I liked Darmian because he played a good match in possession and when the opponent had the ball. Sergio Romero kept a clean sheet and he did make some saves but he was not building up possession but that's logical. He has only been here one week and it's a process."
Indeed, of the new faces, Van Gaal was impressed by right-back Darmian the most.
"I said in advance to the boys you don't have to be very eager to play this match and with a lot of passion -- you need to use your brain also,'' he added.
"When I have to pick up one player I think Matteo was the best because he played in ball possession. He doesn't lose the ball.''