Manchester United News: Given that Dean Henderson has agreed to a season-long loan agreement with Nottingham Forest, David de Gea is certain to continue as Manchester United’s starting goalkeeper this year.
The Spaniard has been United’s first-choice shot-stopper for more than ten years. However, due to his recent slump in performance, there have been rumours that Henderson may gradually be introduced into the starting lineup more frequently.
Henderson was promised a run of games by former Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last summer. However, the goalkeeper contracted Covid and missed the club’s preseason since he was unable to be selected for two months. That’s when De Gea’s form improved.
That was a considerable improvement from the Spaniard’s performance in the Europa League final. The former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper failed to save any of Villarreal’s 11 penalties. He was then denied with a self-shot that would have ended United’s hopes.
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Henderson made 26 appearances under Solskjaer in the 2020–21 season. He played no part in the Premier League last year and was not a part of Ralf Rangnick’s plans. He is currently departing once more for regular first-team football. This indicates that De Gea will once more be the uncontested starting option.
Kepa Arrizabalaga of Chelsea talked about how he and De Gea had lost favour with Luis Enrique’s Spanish national team in an interview that was published in Marca.
De Gea had a “secret chat” with the Spain manager. That resulted in him being cut from the squad in favour of Unai Simon of Athletic Bilbao, David Raya of Brentford, and Robert Sanchez of Brighton.
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There are concerns about De Gea on the domestic and international levels. During the 2020–21 season, a teammate at United called him a “major problem” at Old Trafford.
The Spaniard was fearful of losing his starting position. It’s been claimed that he became uneasy due to Henderson’s persistent challenge. Henderson is largely thought of as a possible first-choice England goalkeeper.
According to a different story from the MEN, Solskjaer wanted to bench De Gea several times but decided against it out of concern for the goalie’s reaction.
It is also noted how many United players believed that De Gea should have been benched because of his performance. De Gea remains one of the best shot-stoppers in the game but his overall technique is outdated.
Ten Hag must now decide what Solskjaer was unable to: whether to spend money on a new goalkeeper to compete with the Spaniard for the starting position on the team.
