Gary Neville believes Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea will not stay at the club for an extended period as he doesn’t suit the manager’s style of play.
The Red Devils were tamed by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in a dominating match at the Etihad Stadium. The result showed the past horror performance against Brentford where the game was long lost before the first half.
Although De Gea was not the lone culprit for United’s 6-2 loss against the Citizens, he didn’t help much either. Erik ten Hag is known to execute an attacking style of football and his keepers play a crucial role by playing from the back.
It helps to release the ball quickly from the back and use counter-attacking moves in their favour. However, with the Spanish goalkeeper, United prefer to play short passes from the back which doesn’t suit the manager’s style of play.
Former United player Gary Neville feels that the 31-year-old will leave the club soon as Ten Hag may sign a more offensive ball-playing goalkeeper in the future.
As reported by the Manchester Evening News, Neville said:
“I suspect with David de Gea, his United career is going to be shortlived under Ten Hag because he’s going to be adamant that his philosophy of playing out from the back, playing those risky passes to the midfield that we see with Ederson all the time, that we no longer see as risky because they do it so well, is something that he’s striving for and that he wants to get to.”
The Red Devils have been linked with a number of players like Jan Oblak, Jordan Pickford and Yann Sommer in the summer. However, there has been no concrete offer by United other than loan proposals for a few potential targets like Kevin Trapp.
The club has let Dean Henderson leave on loan and has signed Martin Dubravka on loan as a possible replaement. With Tom Heaton being the other active keeper in the squad, United needs to strengthen the goalkeeping spot.
Old Trafford may witness a change soon and letting De Gea leave may also release some strain off the financial books.
