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Rob Dawsonreporter
Erik ten Hag’s dilemma with David de Gea was summarized in two cup matches over four days last week. The Manchester United The goalkeeper contributed the most to the shock European league escape Seville with two disastrous mistakes, but then on Sunday there were important saves first Brighton & Hove Albion to help win a spot in the FA Cup final with City of Manchester (live on ESPN+, US only, June 3).
After watching De Gea gift Sevilla two goals in Spain, Ten Hag didn’t seem to be in the mood to rush to his defense, later saying only that the 32-year-old remains a “very capable goalkeeper.” force”.
He spoke more at Wembley and while listing the players who helped win the match, Ten Hag specifically mentioned the Spaniard.
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“David played a great game, both with and without the ball,” he said. “He’s made some great saves, he’s done it very often this season, great saves. We have the most clean sheets in the game. Premier League And today was a clean sheet too.”
De Gea is a good goalkeeper. You don’t play more than 500 times for a club like United if you don’t, but the question since Ten Hag took charge last summer is; Can he thrive in a system that requires him to be as good with his feet as he is with his hands?
Regarding Sevilla’s proof, the answer is no. His daring pass in Harry Maguire — everyone makes mistakes — leads to Youssef En-Nesyrihis early goal and then he touched the ball from a long save, creating the opportunity for the Moroccan forward to score his second of the night into an empty net.
Ten Hag changed the way MU played Brighton, asked De Gea to play longer Anthony Martial. He looks a lot more relaxed but it means Brighton has more possession and more control, although in the end it doesn’t matter.
Speaking in Perth during United’s pre-season tour of Australia shortly after Ten Hag’s appointment, De Gea raged when it was said he might not be the best fit for the new manager.
“I’ve been playing like this in the national team for many years, so I feel comfortable being honest,” he said. “I think I’ve shown that already. If you watch my games with the national team or when we play against Sir Alex [Ferguson] from the beginning, you can see it, I don’t need to show it to anyone.”
Ten Hag generally avoided talking about that aspect of De Gea’s game, although after the Europa League draw with Real Betis in March, he hinted at his worries.
“As of today, I can’t ignore it, but I think we’ve seen in many games he’s done really well,” Ten Hag said when asked about De Gea’s weakness in taking free-kicks.
“I don’t know why, or what the reason is today. There’s a lot of wind, it’s another ball, maybe he has some problem with that. I know he can deal with it. We’re working on that, David is working on that. But I think we’ve seen, during the season, he’s improving and he’s going to keep improving, I’m sure.”
De Gea, entering his 12th year at Old Trafford, will remain Ten Hag’s undisputed No 1 for the rest of the season but there is no guarantee that will happen in August. He is due to expire in the summer and United want him to sign an extension with a significantly reduced salary but with performance-related bonuses.
If nothing is agreed, the club have until the end of May to trigger an extension that will retain his service until 2024, but also mean paying him £375,000 a week. in the next 12 months.
When things settle, United’s four-time player of the year will be a free agent in June. United are considering other goalkeepers ahead of the transfer window, including brentford‘S David Raya. The Spain international is entering the final year of his contract and is the highest-ranked goalkeeper in the Premier League for touches and passes this season.
Meanwhile, De Gea ranked 9th in the number of touches and 10th in the number of successful passes.
Ten Hag was well aware of the issues surrounding De Gea’s start before he took the United job, but in planning his first recruitment round, he decided to focus on other areas of the team. team. Bringing in another goalkeeper to challenge De Gea is an option again this summer but money is tight – in part because of financial fair play concerns – and United need a top-class striker who will not cheap.
Ten Hag’s favorite saying since arriving at Old Trafford is that, at one of the biggest clubs in the world, “good is not enough”. De Gea has played fantastically for United and even considering the controversy surrounding his starting style, he is still a good goalkeeper. The question for Ten Hag was whether that was enough.
