There are two ways to interpret news that David De Gea is leaving Manchester United after 12 years after his contract expired at the end of June. The club did agree a renewal but then backed out and have now lost the stopper to free agency. At first glance, it looks like the latest demonstration of woeful mismanagement from a club that is being run into the ground by the Glazers amid a seemingly never-ending takeover saga.
What serious, top-level club agrees a new contract with a high-profile player and then refuses to sign it, before offering him a less lucrative deal just days before his current deal is due to expire? The optics are awful and it is no way to treat a loyal servant who has spent 12 years at United and got them out of jail time and time again, keeping a club record 190 clean sheets and playing more matches than any other goalkeeper in their history.
An alternative reading is that United are finally taking a tough but important decision that could lead to them signing a goalkeeper that truly fits with the way the team want and need to play if they are to truly return to the elite of English and European football. And if that means looking heartless, then so be it.
Too many mistakes
The harsh truth is that De Gea made too many mistakes in key moments last season, costing United dearly and making it increasingly harder to justify his place at the club. Even though the Spaniard won the Golden Glove for the most clean sheets in the Premier League, he made a litany of errors leading to goals.
In the 4-0 defeat by Brentford, he was an utter mess and at fault for three goals. He let a tame shot from Josh Dasilva slip through his hands and into his own net, a strike which the midfielder was too embarrassed to celebrate. Then he gifted the ball to Mathias Jensen from a kick out for the second goal, while he was all over the place at the corner which led to Ben Mee nodding in the third.
In the FA Cup third round tie with Everton, he let a soft cross bounce under his legs to gift a goal to Conor Coady. He looked very shaky in the Europa League last-16 tie against Real Betis and was fortunate his errors did not lead to a goal, though his performance in the quarter-final second leg against Sevilla was arguably his worst ever performance for United.
A miserable season ended with a calamitous mistake against West Ham and then a feeble performance in the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City. Having watched De Gea crumble under pressure, it’s understandable that United had second thoughts about keeping him on.
Ill-equipped for the modern game
In addition to making a long list of blunders, De Gea also demonstrated his inability to adapt to the demands of modern football and continued to be shaky when it came to distributing the ball, particularly when he came under pressure.
De Gea’s lack of ball-playing ability is hardly a new phenomenon and is one of the main reasons why he has not played for Spain since 2020. But his shortcomings have come under increased scrutiny since Erik ten Hag took charge last summer.
The Spaniard’s gaffes against Brentford and Sevilla were the most glaring examples of his poor kicking ability, but throughout the season he struggled whenever he was asked to play out from the back. Newcastle gave him a torrid time in their dominant 2-0 win over United in April, and after a couple of close shaves, De Gea just resorted to booting the ball downfield, gifting possession straight back to the Magpies. The same thing kept on happening against City in the FA Cup final.
De Gea’s shortcomings with the ball at his feet led to Ten Hag abandoning his plans to have more possession in United’s half and forced him to enact a different style of play to when he was in charge of Ajax and had an outstanding ball-playing goalkeeper in Andre Onana.
Onana delivered an exhibition of audacious dribbles and short-passing manoeuvres in the Champions League final for Inter and helped the Italians give City a run for their money in Istanbul.
A clean break was needed
United are prioritising signing the former Cameroon international and are closing in on landing the goalkeeper after increasing their bid.
And while United are targeting Onana, it made little sense to keep hold of De Gea. Any top ‘keeper looking to join United will want assurances that they will be the undisputed No.1, and the lingering presence of De Gea would have made that that more difficult to envisage.
Simply put, the club and player needed a clean break. The Spaniard is a player who thrives on confidence and allowing him to stay while signing someone who will directly compete with him was only likely to make him feel more threatened.
Ten Hag’s doubts set in
There is a suggestion, as reported by the Daily Mail, that Ten Hag’s doubts about the Spaniard’s ability are a major reason for his exit. Ten Hag has often supported De Gea in public and backed him after his worst performances, such as the defeat at West Ham and in the FA Cup final. But he has also aired his doubts about him, such as when he declared after the Real Betis match that he could not ignore his goalkeeper’s sloppy passing.
And after the cup final defeat against City, after being pressed specifically on De Gea’s kicking, the Dutchman admitted: “There are issues in the game we have to improve if we want to make the next step and win trophies.”
Ten Hag’s ruthless streak should be welcomed. And his former colleague Pep Guardiola can tell him all about the benefits of taking firm action against a cherished goalkeeper.
Follow Guardiola’s lead
When Guardiola arrived at City in 2016, Joe Hart was the club’s undisputed No.1 and had led them to win two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups. He was a hugely popular figure in the dressing room and an idol among fans.
But Guardiola had a clear vision of how he wanted his City side to play and felt that the then-England goalkeeper did not fit into it. He dropped Hart in favour of Willy Caballero for his first Premier League game in charge, and then sent him out on loan to Torino, signing Claudio Bravo from Barcelona to replace him.
Last year, Hart lifted the lid on a frank conversation he had with Guardiola that summer, in which the coach told him he had to leave. “He was very knowledgeable on my background, very knowledgeable on what we did, how I played football. It was a two-hour conversation that kind of ended with him saying ‘I can’t see this working’,” Hart told theIn The Stiffs podcast. “He said ‘I’ll be the first person to be proved wrong, but what I see in you isn’t what I want from my goalkeeper.’”
Guardiola made a huge political move by taking on a figure as popular as Hart, and at first looked to have made a mistake as Bravo endured a horrendous debut campaign in England as City ended the season without a trophy and finished third in the league.
But while Guardiola got the first transfer wrong, his diagnosis was correct. Hart was not ready to play the way he wanted, and a year later the coach got the type of goalkeeper he was looking for in Ederson. The Brazilian has helped City win five Premier League titles in his six years at the club, and his qualities as a ‘sweeper ‘keeper’ have played a huge role in the team’s success.
Better late than never
Ten Hag has a similar footballing philosophy to Guardiola and worked alongside him for two years at Bayern Munich, when the Dutchman was in charge of the Bavarian giant’s reserve side. Just as Guardiola needed a goalkeeper who could dictate the way his team plays, so does Ten Hag.
The City coach gave a damning assessment of the way United play while waxing lyrical about Inter ‘keeper Onana ahead of the Champions League final. “The goalkeeper, Onana, makes it really difficult to deploy a high press against. You cannot press the goalkeeper properly. If you look at United, for example, it is long ball,” he told CBS Sports.
De Gea’s shortcomings are the main reason why United at times looked like a long-ball team and were unable to play how Ten Hag wantedo. Despite everything the Spaniard has given the club over the last 12 years, he was holding the team back. The fact that the club have finally realised this should be welcomed, no matter how ugly it looks from the outside.
Even though the situation makes their squad planning look terrible, it is better late than never. Now they can finally move on and sign the type of goalkeeper that their manager wants, and they can give whoever comes in next the full backing he needs. Source: goal.com
