Sergio Romero aiming to be Manchester United's No 1 if David De Gea joins Real Madrid in the summer

The Argentine goalkeeper starred in United triumphant Europa League campaign this season

Sergio Romero has desires on David de Gea's shirt should the No 1 leave this summer (Getty)

Sergio Romero wants to stay at Manchester United and believes he can be the No 1 goalkeeper, stating that the sheer size and status of the club meant he has always been willing to challenge for his place even if he was never guaranteed first-team football.

Jose Mourinho’s goalkeeping situation remains up in the air due to Real Madrid’s ongoing interest in David De Gea, with the manager’s decision to start Romero for the 2-0 Europa League final win over Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday only adding more intrigue. The Portuguese has drawn up a list of targets featuring names like Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak if De Gea does go, but Romero has made his desire clear.

“I could be the number one or number two, it all depends on hard work and I do work hard. My intention is to stay,” the Argentine said.

“I chose to come here because of what the club is. It’s a huge club, one of the biggest in the world, something I just couldn’t say no to. I knew it might be a little harder here to play a lot. Last year with Louis [van Gaal] I played [10] games, I felt good and so I thought I could be important for the team in those moments despite not playing a lot.

“Then with Jose, I started a little more. I could play a little more. I've been able to show I'm a goalkeeper that can play for this club but you know never know what's going to happen in the future so you have to keep working hard for what comes next.”

Romero ended up becoming Mourinho’s Europa League goalkeeper this season, playing 12 times, and the final saw him keep his eighth clean sheet of that continental campaign.

“There were many moments when I returned home very happy,” the 30-year-old said. “I've kept a lot of clean sheets and helped my teammates on a lot of occasions. That’s given me enormous satisfaction so I have to thank the coaching staff for showing faith in me and my teammates, who made a lot of effort to make me feel relaxed. Finishing the season with the trophy in our hands makes us doubly happy.”

Romero also said the United players had discussed how they wanted to win the Europa League for the people of Manchester after Monday’s terrorist atrocity, even if they knew it would be little more than a small positive.

Romero deputised for De Gea in the Europa League (Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

“We spoke [on Tuesday] when we were in Manchester that it wasn’t good what happened. No-one in Manchester or anywhere deserves this. They deserve to live in peace with tranquility. Every person and family has their own problems with different things, so we hope this ends soon because people need to live in peace. We knew when it happened that it would be a nice prize for the people although obviously winning doesn’t change anything for the families affected. There are families suffering who have lost a mother, father or child and football can't change that at all, but all we can do is try and bring a bit of tranquillity to the fans.

“Many people came from Manchester to give us their support, more than 10,000. That people follow us is important, they’ve showed their support all through the year, in the Capital One Cup, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Europa League. The fans have always been there supporting us and cheering us on so we can do well, so it makes us very happy to be able give them this trophy.”

Romero is similarly enjoying life in the city, and is particularly thankful of how it has meant his daughters can now speak English - something he claims he still struggles with.

“I'm very grateful for football as my two small girls speak English. In Argentina, I didn’t have that and now life has allowed me to give them that gift. It's something very important. I try to speak English as I know it’s very hard for the people living in a foreign language and the most important thing is to speak the language. They [the teammates] try to make a big effort to understand me and that is very important.”