David De Gea | Free agent | Said his goodbyes

[MadDogg]

What's happened to De Gea is a really interesting case study - it's not often that the evolution of the game renders a previous top class player pretty much obsolete within the course of their own career. Like, he's still only 32, no injury concerns, not an ounce of body fat, and not a noticeable decline in ability - it's the game that has changed not him. I guess you could really say the same about Maguire - and that has happened in even less time. The pair of them could still play at the highest level for a team that is happy to defend deep and invite pressure, but are totally ill-suited to a team that presses and plays on the front foot. I hope they both go this summer, but I wish them both the best, particularly DDG.

Seriously? De Gea went from being the best pure shot-stopper in the world and arguably one of the best of all time, to being pretty much average both statistically and to the eye. Being able to still make the occasional amazing save (and yes, it is only occasional now) doesn't make you a great shot-stopper if it goes along with you conceding a similar amount of goals that you really should be stopping.

He declined massively, one of the biggest and most sudden declines I can ever remember a player having. Personally I absolute hate when people make out he's still remotely close to the keeper he once was as I feel it does an incredible disservice to the level he used to be.

 

[Berbaclass]

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[Remember the geese]

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No need for talks to resume. This is just silly.

 

[Chairman Steve]

Unless he’s actually up for taking that massive paycut and demotion, then what other talks do you need?

 

[Delano]

This is daft. You either want him to stay or you don't, don't piss him around.

12 years service, most as one of the better performers in the squad and we can't show an ounce of class.

 

[Berbaclass]

I get the impression the club is putting this out there to try and counter the negative PR they got after going back on the agreed deal.

Think he’s gone.

 

[RVN1991]

I don’t think this is true at all. It’s lazy journalism. He has clearly been told he is not a guaranteed number one next season, has been offered the salary of a backup to renew and the reason he hasn’t signed yet is because of that.

He isn’t being asked to “hang around”, he has been asked to consider a new role at the club. It’s very different.

Yeah it seems like it's been hard for some to comprehend that he hasn't been told he's not needed but rather given a different contract than the one he had agreed to.

 

[gajender]

He is gone there wont be any further talks , might still have offer on the table as back up keeper out of courtesy but cant see De Gea agreeing on it .

 

[LawCharltonBest]

I know it's nothing new but it is silly how United can drag out literally anything

I remember pre-Glazers when United seemed to be quite proactive. Worlds away

 

[Ish]

This is daft. You either want him to stay or you don't, don't piss him around.

12 years service, most as one of the better performers in the squad and we can't show an ounce of class.

Yeah, should have been handled much better - he deserves better from us, even though it's the right decision.

Hoping he gets a decent Saudi offer and cashes in. I would if I were him. Out of the national team with little chance of getting his spot back plus seemingly none of the bigger teams are in for him....

 

[Member 101269]

He is gone there wont be any further talks , might still have offer on the table as back up keeper out of courtesy but cant see De Gea agreeing on it .

Yep; it's interesting there has been loads of talk of Rashford's contract not alot on a positive contract talk for DDG. I'm just not sure ETH wants him.

 

[scottser]

This is daft. You either want him to stay or you don't, don't piss him around.

12 years service, most as one of the better performers in the squad and we can't show an ounce of class.

I fully agree, it reflects really poorly on us dicking around a senior player like this. He'll be snapped up by another club and we'll be short GK options next season, I just know it.

 

[Compton22]

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Yeah, a player that is not under contract will respect the wishes of the club he's not under contract with anymore

 

[NLunited]

The view of DDG changed a lot since the world cup 2018 and the rivalry he had with Casillas. Spanish journalists thinks he's not god enough and his absence in the Spain's NT proves it for them.

All the stats show that this year in PL, he was at best an average keeper.

We should let him leave, buy a new keeper, but I won't go in the abuse as I think he was very good for a large spell of his time here.

Interesting to see that he went from being labeled one of the worst in the PL in the first half of the season to average. Actually his performance got worse. What changed?!?

Honestly people have it completely backwards.

 

[Red00012]

“We’ve had 12 months to sort this but we’ll sort this out after his contract has expired”

 

[Salford_Red83]

A loyal servant. Not a blip on his United career, attitude wise.

Deserves a proper sending at least.

Time for him to leave, could have been dealt with better, water under the bridge.

Really? I seem to recall him wanting out a few seasons ago and if it wasn't down to the ineptitude of our transfer team he would have been playing for Madrid.

 

[pcaming]

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Yeah, a player that is not under contract will respect the wishes of the club he's not under contract with anymore

Not that I want him to stay, but as a player at this point, I would absolutely leave after all this nonsense.

 

[horsechoker]

This is a bit of a shambles if true

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

We’ll sign Onana so all this will be irrelevant anyways.

 

[quadrant]

I fully agree, it reflects really poorly on us dicking around a senior player like this. He'll be snapped up by another club and we'll be short GK options next season, I just know it.

I really can't see who would snap him up tbh. If he had realistic options I think he'd have signed by now.

 

[Lyng]

I hope Dave leaves but also want the club to give him a proper goodbye

 

[Idxomer]

He'll stay as a backup.

 

[Lash]

That can't be true, surely.

 

[Brophs]

I really can't see who would snap him up tbh. If he had realistic options I think he'd have signed by now.

That might be the case. Or, equally, he hasn’t been courting offers as he believed the club wanted him to stay and it would all be sorted. I think he’ll have plenty of offers. Just none of them anywhere close to what he’s currently earning.

 

[Malone_Post]

I fully agree, it reflects really poorly on us dicking around a senior player like this. He'll be snapped up by another club and we'll be short GK options next season, I just know it.

He’s been free to talk to other clubs for the last 6 months and no one’s gone near him.

 

[rooneyberbatov]

I understand that this is perhaps ETH’s decision to make but dear lord what a shit show and mismanagement on our end.

 

[Infra-red]

That can't be true, surely.

I've said that many a time about United in the last decade or so - nearly always turns out to be true. Lesson: never underestimate how badly run the club is.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Seriously? De Gea went from being the best pure shot-stopper in the world and arguably one of the best of all time, to being pretty much average both statistically and to the eye. Being able to still make the occasional amazing save (and yes, it is only occasional now) doesn't make you a great shot-stopper if it goes along with you conceding a similar amount of goals that you really should be stopping.

He declined massively, one of the biggest and most sudden declines I can ever remember a player having. Personally I absolute hate when people make out he's still remotely close to the keeper he once was as I feel it does an incredible disservice to the level he used to be.

I disagree. I think a huge amount of his errors last season came from a complete lack of confidence - along with obviously being asked to play outside of his comfort zone/area of natural ability. When you lack confidence it affects your decision making and judgement. I don't think his has been a sudden decline at all - if anything it has been a gradual drop off over a number of seasons, but as I say I think that is more to do with the game changing than a decline in his abilities. Even the David De Gea of 2015/16 wouldn't be a good fit for the football that top teams play nowadays. When do you date this 'biggest and most sudden decline that you can ever remember' as starting?

 

[Gandalf]

He’s been free to talk to other clubs for the last 6 months and no one’s gone near him.

Actually that is just pure speculation on your part. His not signing a pre contract does not mean nobody has approached him or his representatives, it just means he has been communicating his intention to stay at United which would tie in with all of his public comments up until the end of the season. I would imagine if he does make it known he is not extending he will be signed up pretty quickly.

 

[cj_sparky]

I know the club probably don't want to because of the wages, but he has an option of a further year on his existing contract. Wonder if that had a point in time it needed to be triggered though.

 

[FootyGirl88]

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[quadrant]

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I’ve said this many times, DDG would not have managed to survive five seasons of this form under Fergie.

 

[lex talionis]

The influence of the keeper in this regard has started to become incredibly exaggerated on this board.

Absolutely, you need a keeper that is reasonably good with his feet and comfortable with the ball to play out from the back and fight for control over matches against teams that press.

But...

1) What's really important is that the keeper is above a certain bar, their height above that bar produces declining returns. Ederson is maybe the best in the world with the ball at his feet but City would be able to play the same with a lot of other reasonably good ball playing keepers.

2) The technical level of the other players, including the quality of your forward line, matters a TON. This is really the secret to City's ability to dominate games in possession. Its not that Ederson rarely turns the ball over in his defensive third, its that very few teams even press them anymore because City's defenders and midfielders simply will not cough up the ball and then their attackers will make you pay when they play through you.

3) The ability of City to press high is really a distinct (if interconnected) issue. They can do this largely because they have great defenders who can play in space but also because in possession they simply don't turn the ball over very much in the opponent's half, so they don't have to jump into pressing mode so often and when they do its usually out of a good structure.

At the end of the day, a modern ball-playing, sweeping-comfortable keeper is necessary to play this way but still only one piece of the puzzle. To play like City you really need 11 players on the field who suit that style.

More true words have rarely be written on this or any other forum.

Those who are desperate to "get rid" of "arguably the worst keeper in the PL" conveniently forget that our back line has been incredibly unsettled, and often a joke, over the last decade. But let's just talk about this last season: our RB performances from a ball-playing perspective has been incredibly weak. Opponents invited De Gea to pass the ball to AWB as they know they can target him once he has the ball. Maguire has fallen off a cliff and as much as De Gea is rightly criticized for other mistakes this season the ball he played to Maguire was more than easily managed by any top level CB, which Maguire is not. Varane and Martinez have been a revelation and are magnificent with the ball, but careful observers will recall that Martinez had early season wobbles and Varane was a bit and up and down this season. Shaw was consistently outstanding but Malacia still has a learning curve to overcome. In short, while most of us respect our back line most of us would also acknowledge that with the probably exception of Shaw none of our defenders walk into the starting XIs of City or Arsenal. Martinez I think enters world class status next season but he didn't quite get there this season unless you convenient forget his early season wobbles.

City are fantastic high-pressing, ball-possession not because of Ederson but because of the quality and depth of their outfield players. They dominated us in the FA Cup final with Ederson sitting on the bench. Kyle Walker alone is a substantially better player than AWB defensively and in attack and there were more than a posts here over the season urging United to upgrade on the RB position. Stones and Dias, immense. Laporte on the bench. Every position in their outfield is stacked with complete footballers who do their part with and without the ball.

Hypothetical Question: If Ederson and De Gea had swapped clubs does anyone here believe United would have won the treble and City would have only scraped top four, won a league cup and gotten dumped out of the European cup? I seriously doubt it.

City are rarely pinned back into their own box by an opponent. They typically recover the ball -- on the rare occasion the opponent has the ball in the first place-- in midfield and begin their attack without Ederson ever touching the ball to restart the attack.

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

More true words have rarely be written on this or any other forum.

Those who are desperate to "get rid" of "arguably the worst keeper in the PL" conveniently forget that our back line has been incredibly unsettled, and often a joke, over the last decade. But let's just talk about this last season: our RB performances from a ball-playing perspective has been incredibly weak. Opponents invited De Gea to pass the ball to AWB as they know they can target him once he has the ball. Maguire has fallen off a cliff and as much as De Gea is rightly criticized for other mistakes this season the ball he played to Maguire was more than easily managed by any top level CB, which Maguire is not. Varane and Martinez have been a revelation and are magnificent with the ball, but careful observers will recall that Martinez had early season wobbles and Varane was a bit and up and down this season. Shaw was consistently outstanding but Malacia still has a learning curve to overcome. In short, while most of us respect our back line most of us would also acknowledge that with the probably exception of Shaw none of our defenders walk into the starting XIs of City or Arsenal. Martinez I think enters world class status next season but he didn't quite get there this season unless you convenient forget his early season wobbles.

City are fantastic high-pressing, ball-possession not because of Ederson but because of the quality and depth of their outfield players. They dominated us in the FA Cup final with Ederson sitting on the bench. Kyle Walker alone is a substantially better player than AWB defensively and in attack and there were more than a posts here over the season urging United to upgrade on the RB position. Stones and Dias, immense. Laporte on the bench. Every position in their outfield is stacked with complete footballers who do their part with and without the ball.

Hypothetical Question: If Ederson and De Gea had swapped clubs does anyone here believe United would have won the treble and City would have only scraped top four, won a league cup and gotten dumped out of the European cup? I seriously doubt it.

City are rarely pinned back into their own box by an opponent. They typically recover the ball -- on the rare occasion the opponent has the ball in the first place-- in midfield and begin their attack without Ederson ever touching the ball to restart the attack.

If he’s so good why aren’t:

Arsenal
PSG
Juve
Bayern
Dortmund
Madrid
City
Liverpool
Barca
Atletico
Napoli
Inter

Fighting tooth and nail to sign this world class keeper on a free? They could’ve signed him in January!

He’s nowhere near Ederson as a keeper in 2023 in ALL aspects.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Everyone know that we are a badly run club. Post SAF, we were catastrophic and a laughing stock to the world because of unprecedented failures of such a big club.

But I never thought thing could get worse. Now we can't even show a bit of class to treat one of our long serving and best players of the club.

 

[MadDogg]

I disagree. I think a huge amount of his errors last season came from a complete lack of confidence - along with obviously being asked to play outside of his comfort zone/area of natural ability. When you lack confidence it affects your decision making and judgement. I don't think his has been a sudden decline at all - if anything it has been a gradual drop off over a number of seasons, but as I say I think that is more to do with the game changing than a decline in his abilities. Even the David De Gea of 2015/16 wouldn't be a good fit for the football that top teams play nowadays. When do you date this 'biggest and most sudden decline that you can ever remember' as starting?

It quite clearly started after his disaster showing at the 2018 World Cup. Hasn't been remotely the same since. His last two seasons have actually been a slight improvement over the two seasons before that, so it's hardly him slowly declining. He fell of an cliff pretty much overnight at that World Cup.

17/18 - His absolute shot-stopping peak, making saves left right and centre that he had no right to make. That then led into the 2018 WC where he shit the bed for Spain and it seemed to utterly destroy his confidence that he's never recovered.

18/19 - Average most of the season. It was a very noticeable decline and his worst season since his first here, but he wasn't too bad and had so much credit in the bank that we weren't too worried. But then he utterly collapsed in the last couple months of the season with career-worst form, and was the main reason we missed the top four.

19/20 - Poor all season. Ole bought him into the line-up at the semi-final stage of all the three cups that season, where we lost all three with him badly at fault for two of those.

20//21 - Poor all season. Was directly at fault for the goal that ultimately knocked us out of the CL. Even Ole ultimately dropped him because of his poor form, but bought him back for the Europa matches where he was somewhat at fault for the final loss.

21/22 - Actually quite good again for the first half of the season. The only time in these last five years that he looked remotely like his old self. However he dropped right back off in the second half of the season and was fairly poor.

22/23 - Some good, some bad, with the trend being slowly downhill the longer the season wore on.

So not only has he been average-to-poor for most of the last five years, but he consistently has poor performances in the bigger games when the pressure is on.

 

[DWelbz19]

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Yeah, a player that is not under contract will respect the wishes of the club he's not under contract with anymore

He would actually be doing us a favour by telling us to do one, there. If things go pear shaped on the Onana negotiations we want to crawl back and re-sign De Gea ASAP. Very shameless.

 

[MadDogg]

Hypothetical Question: If Ederson and De Gea had swapped clubs does anyone here believe United would have won the treble and City would have only scraped top four, won a league cup and gotten dumped out of the European cup? I seriously doubt it.

Of course not. Nobody is saying that. A more suitable question would be whether Ederson and De Gea had swapped clubs do you believe City would still have won the treble? Hell, do you think he would even have played or would Pep have played Ortega all season instead?

 

[Member 101269]

A loyal servant. Not a blip on his United career, attitude wise.

Deserves a proper sending at least.

Time for him to leave, could have been dealt with better, water under the bridge.

I hate the words, " a loyal servant" how many servants get paid so much, and doesn't leave because of an alleged fax machine issue. He should be thanked, which i'm sure he is finacially, for the accidental longevity. Also, for his performance in seasons the team wasn't great.

I support that he goes, he's not done, it's the game having passed him in the same way it passed the thugs, glorious thugs, of years go by.

 

[Isotope]

Let's do the math. I know it's sometime hard but bare with me.

It seems like we'll need a 2nd choice Gk. How much will he cost? Well, if we only need body, probably 5M with 50k/wk wage. For 2 years contract, that equivalent to? 100k/wk wage.

Now if we need reliable experience Gk, that might cost 10M at 100k/wk. In 2 yrs contract, that equivalent to ~200k/wk.

So it depends on what profile we want for 2nd Gk, and how long the contract goes.