As the only player in Erik ten Hag’s squad who helped Sir Alex Ferguson win Manchester United‘s last Premier League title in 2013, David de Gea has been treated with great respect by the club throughout their protracted contract negotiations.
But the solution of the Spanish goalkeeper staying for another two years on reduced salary does smack of an old-fashioned compromise which says more about United’s need to allocate resources carefully than a strong belief their No 1 is still world-class.
At 32, De Gea is certainly a Manchester United legend in goalkeeping terms. He has won every major domestic trophy and was on the bench for Jose Mourinho’s Europa League triumph in 2017.
His 540 appearances for United is already the most for any goalkeeper and seventh in the all-time list. By the time his new contract expires he will almost certainly have leapfrogged Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville into the top five.
And yet there will be nagging doubts over whether an extension will prove to be the right move for player or club.
David de Gea earning a new deal at Manchester United this summer says more about the club’s need to allocate resources than their belief that he is still a world class goalkeeper
He has been guilty of glaring errors this season (pictured – his mistake for West Ham’s first goal at the weekend), but they may struggle to sign a new No 1 and pay him them the same wages
De Gea has been voted United’s Player of the Year on numerous occasions but mistakes have crept more frequently into his game.
His blunders were partly to blame for their Europa League exit against Sevilla and tiny striker-turned-pundit Jermain Defoe cruelly said he’d have stopped the shot that gifted West Ham their winning goal on Sunday.
As significantly, Ten Hag’s preferred style of play relies on a goalkeeper who is decent with his feet – not one of De Gea’s strengths.
United made it clear from the outset that De Gea wouldn’t be able to match the £375,000-a-week given to him in Ed Woodward’s pomp as CEO.
His new deal of around £200,000-a-week brings him in line with the rest of the United back line and it became clear to the player given his inconsistent form, brilliant one week and bizarre the next, that nobody in Europe would offer him more.
The current uncertainty over the future of the club ownership has meant Ten Hag has needed to be pragmatic.
It became clear to De Gea that no other club in Europe would pay more than this United deal
Erik ten…