A Look at Goalkeeper Options and Replacing De Gea

Idxomer

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I expected that tbh. Ten Hag and the club can't agree on what the team needs and it's resulting into this mess.
 

ifightdragons

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We need ball-playing and sweeper GK. I personally like Onana. His passing accuracy is hands down best of any keeper I have seen, forget about the stats just watch his game he is able to pick a single person in a crowded midfield. Apparently, he wants to leave Inter already and Chelsea are after him. We could easily get him because of Ten Hag and potential CL football next season.

Emi Martinez is a very shrewd choice - Good age, not expensive, big personality - I'd take him - may turn out to be another Van der Sar type signing for Utd.

Donnarumma certainly not attainable this summer but wouldn’t be surprised if he looks to leave the Paris circus next year. Trading may be facilitated between Utd & PSG if we get Jassim. That means PSG buying Maignan from Milan and moving Donnaruma to Utd so that would be one to keep an eye on. Still only 24.

Ter Stegen. With Barca needing to clear out the squad I can 100% see someone like Ter Stegen be forced out and probably replace him with cheaper option like Manuel Neuer who has fallen out with the Bayern board.

Diogo Costa just ticks all the boxes but I do not expect us to sign a really expensive keeper like him unfortunately.

Gregor Kobel of Dortmund makes a very good case of being Utd keeper.

Would like to throw in David Raya. He'll cost 20-30m which is a reasonable price.

Any of these guys would be great options. All depends on the budget. Either way De Gea cannot be number 1 anymore we need to move on.
Lots of good shouts here, mate!

Costa is arguably a better passer of the ball than Onana.

Onana has a 79% passing success rate and Costa 77%, which is really close. But Costa makes a lot more passes, so that makes Costa's rate more impressive. Not to mention, Costa is a better shot stopper than Onana, and younger. He is also ambidextrous, which is very rare and incredibly important for a keeper. As a big bonus, he is also one of the best penalty savers in the world, which is really important in knock-out games.

There is a downright crazy passing compilation of Costa on YouTube, and while compilation videos is not the best way to judge players, it's really insane to watch. And as mentioned, he can pass with both feet, which makes him so calm and safe under pressure. There are literally instances where he calmly juggles the ball past defenders before volleying flat 50 yard drives straight into attackers' feet. Not even the likes of Bruno Fernandes or Kevin de Bruyne can pull of passes like that.

I strongly encourage everyone to watch this entire 7 minute video... He can pick seemingly impossible passes under tight pressure with ease, and at times with millimeter precision. And he does so with both feet. Even Paul Scholes would be impressed. It's just a mesmerizing watch:
 
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davidmichael

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It definitely is, the same report states that the club would seemingly rather tie DDG down and spend 15m on a backup rather than pay up the type of money required for a new no.1. It's the type of decision that will have ramifications for years to come so I really hope the gaffer keeps his foot down and gets his way in the end.


This just shows how piss poorly we’re run as any normal thinking club would have people who can read the stats on De Gea over the last 3-4 years as well as being able to use their eyes yet want to give him a new contract to save money, if you didn’t laugh you’d cry.

A sensible management team would see that selling Henderson for £25-£30 million is massive in terms of FFP seeing as he’s an academy player so the entire fee goes down on the balance sheet as well as saving on Henderson’s £100K a week wages then moving De Gea saves us £20 million a year in wages, you’re bringing in £25-£30 million in transfers and saving nearly £500K a week in wages.

If Onana is available for €50 million like DiMarzio said then that’s mostly paid off by selling Henderson and I doubt Onana would want much more wage wise than Henderson is on and you then have De Gea’s £375K a week off the bill too to play with, I hope ETH wins this battle as he knows he can’t move forward with De Gea and the battle for top four will be much harder next season so can’t afford to carry De Gea for yet another season.
 

red.knight

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Lots of good shouts here, mate!

Costa is arguably a better passer of the ball than Onana.

Onana has a 79% passing success rate and Costa 77%, which is really close. But Costa makes a lot more passes, so that makes Costa's rate more impressive. Not to mention, Costa is a better shot stopper than Onana, and younger. He is also ambidextrous, which is very rare and incredibly important for a keeper. As a big bonus, he is also one of the best penalty savers in the world, which is really important in knock-out games.

There is a downright crazy passing compilation of Costa on YouTube, and while compilation videos is not the best way to judge players, it's really insane to watch. And as mentioned, he can pass with both feet, which makes him so calm and safe under pressure. There are literally instances where he calmly juggles the ball past defenders before volleying flat 50 yard drives straight into attackers' feet. Not even the likes of Bruno Fernandes or Kevin de Bruyne can pull of passes like that.

I strongly encourage everyone to watch this entire 7 minute video... He can pick seemingly impossible passes under tight pressure with ease, and at times with millimeter precision. And he does so with both feet. Even Paul Scholes would be impressed. It's just a mesmerizing watch:
His distribution is outstanding and he often helps his team start attacks. Would love to see Costa at United. Suits ETH's style of play to a tee.
 

Lentwood

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This just shows how piss poorly we’re run as any normal thinking club would have people who can read the stats on De Gea over the last 3-4 years as well as being able to use their eyes yet want to give him a new contract to save money, if you didn’t laugh you’d cry.

A sensible management team would see that selling Henderson for £25-£30 million is massive in terms of FFP seeing as he’s an academy player so the entire fee goes down on the balance sheet as well as saving on Henderson’s £100K a week wages then moving De Gea saves us £20 million a year in wages, you’re bringing in £25-£30 million in transfers and saving nearly £500K a week in wages.

If Onana is available for €50 million like DiMarzio said then that’s mostly paid off by selling Henderson and I doubt Onana would want much more wage wise than Henderson is on and you then have De Gea’s £375K a week off the bill too to play with, I hope ETH wins this battle as he knows he can’t move forward with De Gea and the battle for top four will be much harder next season so can’t afford to carry De Gea for yet another season.
I dont think you can blame the current management team - they're still working to clear the 'debt' of a decade of Woodward/Judge inspired decisions.

I am sure selling Henderson is factored into our budget for this year, but we also need a CF, another CM and potentially a CB and/or a RB. Even allowing for players sold, that probably caps us at about £200m.

I think the plan was to limp along with DDG until next Summer and address other key areas, however DDG was that poor towards the end of the season, ETH now feels a change a priority
 

bucky

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It definitely is, the same report states that the club would seemingly rather tie DDG down and spend 15m on a backup rather than pay up the type of money required for a new no.1. It's the type of decision that will have ramifications for years to come so I really hope the gaffer keeps his foot down and gets his way in the end.


It could also simply be untrue? As others have repeatedly pointed out, just letting de Gea go will give us massive room for investment. It could be ten Hag, who wants to keep him as a backup, for his positive influence on the dressing room (I really don't think that should matter), which also has been reported previously, and our recruitment department might actually be happy to cut ties completely, since they should know that he isn't good enough.

Even if we were serious about keeping him as a backup, we would have managed to tie him down by now. Considering that we haven't, I feel like we want him as insurance in case we are unable to sign players like Costa or Onana.
 

mav_9me

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It’s massively complicated though. Great teams concede fewer shots with a high xG. The whole team has to function to enable that dynamic.

I don’t much like the Peter Crouch Podcast, but they had a great podcast with Ramsdale. The amount of time that Arsenal spend on ‘shape’, with 11 players involved, versus a goalkeeper ‘learning’ how to save shots, was mad. It’s clear that Arteta is more concerned with how the team reacts to being in and out of position, than they are about how good their keeper is at saving shots. They look to use the keeper as an outfield player in possession, and focus on limiting high xG shooting opportunities, waaay more than they care about how good the keeper is at Saving shots.
I'd have thought watching City, Arsenal, Brighton and Liverpool be successful with this approach would show the obvious benefits of upgrading DDG but it doesn’t seem that obvious based on so many posts.
 

croadyman

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Lots of good shouts here, mate!

Costa is arguably a better passer of the ball than Onana.

Onana has a 79% passing success rate and Costa 77%, which is really close. But Costa makes a lot more passes, so that makes Costa's rate more impressive. Not to mention, Costa is a better shot stopper than Onana, and younger. He is also ambidextrous, which is very rare and incredibly important for a keeper. As a big bonus, he is also one of the best penalty savers in the world, which is really important in knock-out games.

There is a downright crazy passing compilation of Costa on YouTube, and while compilation videos is not the best way to judge players, it's really insane to watch. And as mentioned, he can pass with both feet, which makes him so calm and safe under pressure. There are literally instances where he calmly juggles the ball past defenders before volleying flat 50 yard drives straight into attackers' feet. Not even the likes of Bruno Fernandes or Kevin de Bruyne can pull of passes like that.

I strongly encourage everyone to watch this entire 7 minute video... He can pick seemingly impossible passes under tight pressure with ease, and at times with millimeter precision. And he does so with both feet. Even Paul Scholes would be impressed. It's just a mesmerizing watch:
Personally would be over the moon with either
 

SAFMUTD

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Diogo Costa's value dropped because of his mistakes in the WC. But he's definitely a great modern keeper, he's the obvious choice. Hopefully were planning to move on for him.
 

tomaldinho1

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ABP

Anyone But Pickford.

If we want a cheap option I honestly think that Sociedad keeper we played early in the year was decent. Unpressable.
 

ayushreddevil9

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We can and should get Costa in but this club can't move on from the Interested FC stage.
 

The White Pele

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We can and should get Costa in but this club can't move on from the Interested FC stage.

It will be a repeat of last year. We’ll end up spending over £200m (gross) but we’ll end up leaving it late and overpaying rather than spending the money wisely early in the window when there are good deals to be had and release clauses to be taken advantage of.
 

rimaldo

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He is also ambidextrous, which is very rare and incredibly important for a keeper.
you make some good points it you completely lost me when you said how important it is for a goalkeeper to be able to breathe underwater.
 

Idxomer

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At least we know now that Ten Hag is pushing hard for a new keeper and he had enough of De Gea.
 

L1nk

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Where's the money coming from?
Probably from spending less on what we originally planned on a forward

Mount, cheaper forward, new 1st team Goalkeeper should fit within our current reported budget before sales.
 

Widow

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Probably from spending less on what we originally planned on a forward

Mount, cheaper forward, new 1st team Goalkeeper should fit within our current reported budget before sales.
Sounds terrible! Looks like we'll over spend on a midfielder that doesn't look like the player we need and buy a second rate 'prospect' striker when we really need a shoe in.
 

saivet

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All this screams is bad planning from the club. Don't understand how they have been so indecisive over this situation, when they've had plenty of time to assess and make a decision. Fortunately his contract expiring means this we or DDG will be forced to make a decision soon but it could have been handled so much better for the club. I think it's also unfortunate for DDG too, he'll most likely leave without a proper send off. He's not been at the standard for a few years now but he's been a great servant to the club and been an important player for us over the years.
 

Leg-End

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De Gea will go on a free, Henderson sold. New GK that has feet that work, cheap backup to support him.

This really shouldn't be a tough one to get right, candidates are obvious.
 

Cassidy

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All this screams is bad planning from the club. Don't understand how they have been so indecisive over this situation, when they've had plenty of time to assess and make a decision. Fortunately his contract expiring means this we or DDG will be forced to make a decision soon but it could have been handled so much better for the club. I think it's also unfortunate for DDG too, he'll most likely leave without a proper send off. He's not been at the standard for a few years now but he's been a great servant to the club and been an important player for us over the years.
Maybe some at the club want him to stay as no2
 

saivet

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Maybe some at the club want him to stay as no2
Possibly but that just seems like wishful thinking rather than anything based on reality. I don't see how DDG staying as a no.2 benefits anyone, at this stage of his career anyway.
 

Cassidy

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Possibly but that just seems like wishful thinking rather than anything based on reality. I don't see how DDG staying as a no.2 benefits anyone, at this stage of his career anyway.
United wouldn't have to sign 2 keepers this summer just 1
 

redcucumber

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De Gea will go on a free, Henderson sold. New GK that has feet that work, cheap backup to support him.

This really shouldn't be a tough one to get right, candidates are obvious.
Candidates might be obvious, but the finances have to work as well. Obvious candidates for the number 9 position are Kane and Osimhen but neither will happen for reasons to do with moolah.
 

Cassidy

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The money we spent on De Gea's wages would likely be more than what we spend on a cheap backup keeper and their wage.
We’ve been able to pick up backup keepers in the past for relatively nothing.
The market for back up keepers is probably fine and shouldn't be much of an issue to get in a cheap keeper on low wages.

Depends what wages hes been offered, apparently it is massive depending on how many games he plays etc
Also if we're bringing a new keeper into the league there is probably a part of the group who want to be cautious and ensure we don't just have any random backup.

I would let DDG go but I don't see it as a bad move by United to have the best possible squad to be open to offering him a reduced contract to have him as a no2 who could push the new no1. In my opinion, why wouldn't you try it?
 

GwilDor

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Depends what wages hes been offered, apparently it is massive depending on how many games he plays etc
Also if we're bringing a new keeper into the league there is probably a part of the group who want to be cautious and ensure we don't just have any random backup.

I would let DDG go but I don't see it as a bad move by United to have the best possible squad to be open to offering him a reduced contract to have him as a no2 who could push the new no1. In my opinion, why wouldn't you try it?
A lot of explanations/thoughts on this earlier in the thread, but my main concerns are:

- New keeper fitting ETH style of play. Having a backup keeper(DDG) who does not fit the style of play is not a good idea, as it will be hard for the team to adjust when/if backup keeper needs to/gets to play.
- DDG wages, while obviously reduced from current contract, will still be unreasonably high for a backup. Would also affect negotiations for a new GK for #1 position.

i appreciate the player DDG has beenfoe us through his carreer, but the best for us and him is now to part ways. Agree we should have solved this before this point though.Only reason i can see is to have a slightly better negotiating position to buy a new GK.
 

BlahRules

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A lot of explanations/thoughts on this earlier in the thread, but my main concerns are:

- New keeper fitting ETH style of play. Having a backup keeper(DDG) who does not fit the style of play is not a good idea, as it will be hard for the team to adjust when/if backup keeper needs to/gets to play.
- DDG wages, while obviously reduced from current contract, will still be unreasonably high for a backup. Would also affect negotiations for a new GK for #1 position.

i appreciate the player DDG has beenfoe us through his carreer, but the best for us and him is now to part ways. Agree we should have solved this before this point though.Only reason i can see is to have a slightly better negotiating position to buy a new GK.
I understand that ETH wants a goalie that can pass competently but the biggest reason I believe ETH wish to find a new goalie is because DDG does not command his box at all. DDG is very cautious GK - he will not try to claim the ball at all and his positioning is horrendous. I keep seeing a goal keep should not be trying to claim that ball which is why DDG has not when you will see Martinez, Onana, Ederson, Alison and co repeatedly claim the ball successfully. Why do players bombard DDG when there is a corner? It is not to stop him from claiming the ball but because they know DDG will be even more cautious to claim the ball.
 

sugar_kane

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There was a story a few weeks back that after the disastrous Seville game he had decided he wanted to leave the club.

More proof (as if it were needed) about why he cannot continue as our keeper, he is just smashed to bits from a confidence perspective.

Very similar situation with Maguire. The weight of the shirt has become too heavy for them both.
 

Red Royal

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GK should be a relatively straightforward position to upgrade with a commanding keeper better with his feet then DDG. Not trying to bash DDG but it best for all parties to part ways.
 

Cassidy

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A lot of explanations/thoughts on this earlier in the thread, but my main concerns are:

- New keeper fitting ETH style of play. Having a backup keeper(DDG) who does not fit the style of play is not a good idea, as it will be hard for the team to adjust when/if backup keeper needs to/gets to play.
- DDG wages, while obviously reduced from current contract, will still be unreasonably high for a backup. Would also affect negotiations for a new GK for #1 position.

i appreciate the player DDG has beenfoe us through his carreer, but the best for us and him is now to part ways. Agree we should have solved this before this point though.Only reason i can see is to have a slightly better negotiating position to buy a new GK.

The issue is getting a backup keeper who does fit the style will not be trivial and so would need a transfer fee