Might Manchester United Have To Replace David De Gea To Play The Way Erik Ten Hag Wants?

Only two players on Manchester United’s books have won a PremierPINC
League title for the Old Trafford club. One of them is Phil Jones, who has barely featured over the last few seasons due to injury, and the other is David de Gea. Even after all this time, Spanish goalkeeper is still one of United’s best players.

After a difficult 2020/21 season which saw de Gea lose his number one position to Dean Henderson for a period, the 31-year-old was back to his best last season, even as Manchester United crumbled around him. Without de Gea pulling off so many stunning saves, they would have fared even worse.

And yet de Gea can’t be certain of his future as Manchester United’s first-choice goalkeeper. Erik ten Hag is the new manager at Old Trafford and he has specific ideas on how a goalkeeper should play in his team. Unfortunately for de Gea, the goalkeeper ten Hag tends to favour is different in style to him.

De Gea is one of the best shot-stoppers around, but he has never been comfortable with his feet. This puts him at odds with some of his Premier League peers who are able to play out from the back – see Ederson at Manchester City and Alisson Becker at Liverpool. De Gea passes these responsibilities on to outfielders.

Worse than this from ten Hag’s perspective, De Gea is extremely slow to come off his line. This could be a real issue next season when Manchester United play a high defensive line as many expect them to. Liverpool play a high defensive line, but they have Alisson to sweep up in behind. De Gea won’t do that for United. This will give opponents a lot of space to target with balls in behind and over the top.

Manchester United have bigger priorities this season than finding a new goalkeeper. Ten Hag wants Frenkie de Jong to join him at Old Trafford after working with the midfielder during their time together at Ajax. United have also been linked with a number of full backs and central defenders and could also make a move for a right winger – Anthony is believed to be a target.

However, it must be on Ten Hag’s radar that de Gea might not provide him with what he needs. The Spaniard could add another element to his game through hard work on the training pitch, but de Gea is now 31 – how realistic is it for him to change his natural game at such a late stage of his career?

Finding a long-term replacement who can play with the ball at his feet and play out from the back might just be part of Manchester United’s rebuild job over the next few years. De Gea has been a great servant for the Old Trafford club, but the modern game has left him behind somewhat. Ten Hag is a modern manager and he might feel he needs a modern goalkeeper.