COMMENT: He's on the hunt. Jose Mourinho is chasing down a leak. A mole. But that's just a side issue. The Manchester United manager proving masterful - yet again - in what really matters during Friday's pre-match presser.

That team sheet source? He'll know more about their identity come today's kickoff against Everton. Putting it about that Romelu Lukaku will be benched could flush out the culprit. But what is really pressing for Mourinho is these protracted negotiations between club and player over David de Gea's new contract.

He put it front and centre on Friday. It's dragging on. And not in a good way. As the manager put it, "I am not confident, but I'm also not worried". In other words, this has gone on for far too long. De Gea wants to stay, Mourinho will know that via their shared agent, Jorge Mendes. But the club needs to make him feel wanted - which hasn't been the case during these negotiations.

De Gea won't shout it from the rooftops. That's not his character. And he won't accept Mendes planting things in the press. Again, that's not his style. But he's no mug. And by his reckoning - and to be fair the majority of fair-minded observers' - he deserves at least parity with the highest paid players at the club.

Ederson. Keylor Navas. Whatever you think of a goalkeeper's influence on a great team, at United there's no escaping the fact that De Gea is the best thing they've had for almost a decade. The Spaniard is now in his eighth season as the club's No1. He's survived his shaky start. The attempt by Louis van Gaal to offload him. The on-off fax fiasco with Real Madrid. Even his own 'Luke Shaw moments' with Mourinho. He's seen it all off. Never complaining. Never crying to the press. Just head down. Tail up. The epitome of a team foundation. A world class cornerstone.

And it's something Ed Woodward, Avi Glazer and the rest of the decision makers on United's 'cloud room' board should appreciate. When they're on their regular calls across the Atlantic the topic should be about how best to acknowledge De Gea's role in this team - and not to simply take what he does - and the way he behaves - for granted.

If Woodward is still hesitating about paying what De Gea and Mendes believes he's worth, the vice-chairman exec would do well to heed the words of Ramon Calderon, the former Real Madrid president, last week.

Calderon never misses the chance to take a swing at his successor, Florentino Perez. And in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo there's big target now on Florentino's back. But Calderon's observation, made at local charity golf tournament, could not have rung more true - and could easily be applied to De Gea and the sticklers inside the United board room.

"In a club, when success occurs, as in this case with Real Madrid, employees expect them to voluntarily improve conditions," said Calderon. "He (Ronaldo) was not heard and he was reading every day that a player was coming and they were going to pay him 350 million, and he wanted to be paid 50.

"There comes a moment when you realise they do not love you..."

And for Ronaldo, you can read De Gea. And for that "350 million" you can read Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba or even the likes of Radamel Falcao and Angel di Maria. None of them come close to De Gea's consistency. His performances. His on field influence. Yet, he's seen them all arrive on bigger contracts - more often than not double what he is earning - and with no assuring word from the club that he'll be taken care of. That the balance will be redressed.

And they've been lucky. De Gea is no Ronaldo. He won't use the media. Nor his profile. To back the club into a corner. It's not in him. Which is fortunate for United. For Ed Woodward's United. Because their one world class player could wreak havoc if he wanted to.

Which is just what is waiting for United if they don't heed Mourinho's Friday warning. Ronaldo's departure for Juventus has left the European champions in crisis. United losing De Gea? A United now desperately clinging onto the coattails of the elite? The impact on the club's reputation. It's standing. It would be seismic.

Indeed, stories of a locker room mole would be a welcome relief for what lies ahead for this board if De Gea continues to feel under appreciated.