David De Gea | Free agent | Said his goodbyes

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gajender

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We'll keep him if we can't sign Onana. It seems Onana's availability triggered the process of replacing De Gea.
Can't agree with this it's actually other way round United don't want to keep De Gea that's why We are targeting Onana if it's not him then We would get somebody else , but De Gea is not an option as No 1 next season under no circumstances honestly I don't believe we are even keen on him as Backup either it's more of courtesy Contract offer .
 

pcaming

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Can't agree with this it's actually other way round United don't want to keep De Gea that's why We are targeting Onana if it's not him then We would get somebody else , but De Gea is not an option as No 1 next season under no circumstances honestly I don't believe we are even keen on him as Backup either it's more of courtesy Contract offer .
Realistically there's no way he can stay. The manager clearly doesn't see him in his plans, and with many fans on his back, his salary is being slashed significantly.

I would respect him more if he just said this is nonsense and left. In reality, his options are probably quite grim and undesirable, but that again shows why he shouldn't be here.
 

sullydnl

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By far the most likely outcome of all of this is that once certain pieces fall into place (Onana signing, possibly the Henderson and 2nd choice GK issue being resolved) we see the "De Gea is leaving" announcement, a goodbye video from him and he gets a testimonial at a later date.

It's just much messier than it needed to be and I hope there's no public recriminations over how it was handled afterwards. This should have been the cleanest of departures with his contract running out as it was.

I also think the club will be quite lucky to have arrived at the correct outcome (De Gea leaving) given they kept offering him contracts they shouldn't have.
 

OrcaFat

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Can't agree with this it's actually other way round United don't want to keep De Gea that's why We are targeting Onana if it's not him then We would get somebody else , but De Gea is not an option as No 1 next season under no circumstances honestly I don't believe we are even keen on him as Backup either it's more of courtesy Contract offer .
Do you mean an offer so bad he will surely refuse?

Or do you think we intend to contract and pay him as a courtesy whilst not intending to use him?

I read somewhere there was a preference to keep him at the club because of his positive influence in the dressing room and about the place but that sounds like fantasy to me.
 

Salt Bailly

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"The answer I was given was 'yes'...not a definite!"

Drown these journalists and chuck them in the bin.
 

OrcaFat

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"The answer I was given was 'yes'...not a definite!"

Drown these journalists and chuck them in the bin.
Extreme! But I thought the same. “Yes” means “yes”, surely. But, hey, there’s always room for conspiracy, speculation and general attention seeking click bait.
 

Marcelinho87

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By far the most likely outcome of all of this is that once certain pieces fall into place (Onana signing, possibly the Henderson and 2nd choice GK issue being resolved) we see the "De Gea is leaving" announcement, a goodbye video from him and he gets a testimonial at a later date.

It's just much messier than it needed to be and I hope there's no public recriminations over how it was handled afterwards. This should have been the cleanest of departures with his contract running out as it was.

I also think the club will be quite lucky to have arrived at the correct outcome (De Gea leaving) given they kept offering him contracts they shouldn't have.
I doubt there will be a testimonial, they aren't really a thing anymore.

Maybe he returns for a legends style game in the future or something.
 

AndySmith1990

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By far the most likely outcome of all of this is that once certain pieces fall into place (Onana signing, possibly the Henderson and 2nd choice GK issue being resolved) we see the "De Gea is leaving" announcement, a goodbye video from him and he gets a testimonial at a later date.

It's just much messier than it needed to be and I hope there's no public recriminations over how it was handled afterwards. This should have been the cleanest of departures with his contract running out as it was.

I also think the club will be quite lucky to have arrived at the correct outcome (De Gea leaving) given they kept offering him contracts they shouldn't have.
It doesn't look messy at all.

De Gea has left the club. Neither party has announced anything. There's no drama. The club is now free to sign Onana and De Gea is free to find a new club. That's the end of it. It's only the discussion on here that exaggerates what's happened and makes it look like some big messy situation
 

GazTheLegend

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Who gets testimonials these days? Players are loaded

Unless its charity based, no point.
It's a chance for fans to show respect to a player who has been a credit to the club, which de Gea absolutely has, and if nothing else it shows the other members of the squad who may or may not be out of contract soon themselves what could await them if they do what nobody else seems to in the world and give something back to a club legend. It's got a LOT of benefits if you are that mercenary, but I believe that he deserves that much from us.
 

sullydnl

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It doesn't look messy at all.

De Gea has left the club. Neither party has announced anything. There's no drama. The club is now free to sign Onana and De Gea is free to find a new club. That's the end of it. It's only the discussion on here that exaggerates what's happened and makes it look like some big messy situation
It's clearly a messy situation by any measure, unless you do what you just did and leave out key facts in your summary. The way the club have handled De Gea's exit isn't normal, something that is also being commented on outside of this forum.
 

Glorio

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I hope he gets a Varane/Casemiro black suit type farewell if I'm honest.

He's been a great servant of the club
 

Fooza

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WIll be missed but it was time to move on, thank you David
 

Hughie77

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Good luck to him, I'm not that impressed as how he's been treated but that's football, I think he should have had a good bye season at least from fans, but it's a cut throat business, and if every one new he was off all Keepers would have had an extra £30 million on them.

Been a great servant for us just hope the new guy is as good. ..
 

Lash

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Hope he finds a good club and performs well for them, been a stalwart for us in the recent nadir, but we've moved stylistically away from him and we're not a good fit for each other any more.
 

Abraxas

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Good luck to him. He has been an outstanding keeper for us. He held our season together at times when we were going through vulnerable periods. Which to be fair, most of his time has been. I don't think his recent decline over the last few years takes too much away from his overall production for the club. He was a great buy for us.
 

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Farewell; he's had some incredible moments, i wish him well in where ever his career takes him..
 

GueRed

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It's a chance for fans to show respect to a player who has been a credit to the club, which de Gea absolutely has, and if nothing else it shows the other members of the squad who may or may not be out of contract soon themselves what could await them if they do what nobody else seems to in the world and give something back to a club legend. It's got a LOT of benefits if you are that mercenary, but I believe that he deserves that much from us.
In all honesty going on recent past players Ole, Carrick he'll probably get some kind of 'testimonial' legends game of some sort. I remember Ole's and Carrick's were tied up with a charity organisation so could see something like that that happen.

Probably at the end of his career.
 

Ronaldo's Love Child

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It doesn't look messy at all.

De Gea has left the club. Neither party has announced anything. There's no drama. The club is now free to sign Onana and De Gea is free to find a new club. That's the end of it. It's only the discussion on here that exaggerates what's happened and makes it look like some big messy situation
I might be in the minority on this but allowing a player to run down his contract is financial sacrilege to me.

The PSG board have it right in their comments about Mbappe. Allowing a player to leave for free makes no sense.

Wait until the final year and by all means offer them a contract you feel is worthy of their place. If they don't accept then transfer list them no matter who they are.
 

RedOrange

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I might be in the minority on this but allowing a player to run down his contract is financial sacrilege to me.
Three parties need to agree to a transfer: The selling club, the buying club, and the player. It's the latter two that are usually the sticking point when United are trying to sell, especially with the wages most United players are on.

It's not realistic to expect that no player be allowed to run down their contract. There are some players where it was a bit stupid to do it like Lingard, but a lot of the time the player isn't interested and neither are any other clubs.
 
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Idxomer

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I might be in the minority on this but allowing a player to run down his contract is financial sacrilege to me.

The PSG board have it right in their comments about Mbappe. Allowing a player to leave for free makes no sense.

Wait until the final year and by all means offer them a contract you feel is worthy of their place. If they don't accept then transfer list them no matter who they are.
PSG have lost a few players for free over the years, United even got two of them over the last decade.

The Mbappe situation is quite different because they view him as the best player in the world and don't want to lose face if he left for free.
 

Strelok

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I might be in the minority on this but allowing a player to run down his contract is financial sacrilege to me.
That's a bit of small/selling club mentality imo. Most of the top clubs keep their best players until they're no longer good enough. Most of those top players leave on a free, retire or sold for some small amount. With the wages DDG was on it's unrealistic to expect anyone would consider buying him.

Anyway thanks for everything and all the best DDG.
 

lex talionis

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Yeah, if that’s what happened it is unethical because, having signed the document; Dave is effectively in limbo - he is committed but the club are not which seems as if it ought to be illegal. Dave’s obligation probably could be voided in court, if the offer / contract wasn’t withdrawn, but unpleasant for him regardless. If this sort of malarkey was unchecked, clubs could routinely offer players favourable terms to get them signed up (dissuade them from joining other clubs) and then withdraw at the last minute, offering a much worse deal.

Still, if United withdrew then Dave is not bound and can do what he likes. I suppose the extent to which this is unethical or immoral depends on how long we kept him on the hook with a one-way commitment. It also depends on the actual facts of the case, which have been subject to contradictory press reports and general speculation.

After reflecting on this a bit, there is a lack of honour and integrity from the club in not standing by their offer. But I don’t have that much sympathy for Dave, really, because it sounds like he played hardball when a little more humility was appropriate. And I don’t see that he is in a worse position now than if no offer had been made at all.

He’s been highly paid and and has done his best. His time as no1 at United is over; all good things come to an end. All said and done, it’s a bit of a mess but it’s not a big deal.
In any event, here we are. Looking back, the club should have told Dave much sooner that we services were no longer required. It is a big deal that the club handled the situation as it has, but what’s done is done.
 

cyberman

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Yeah, if that’s what happened it is unethical because, having signed the document; Dave is effectively in limbo - he is committed but the club are not which seems as if it ought to be illegal. Dave’s obligation probably could be voided in court, if the offer / contract wasn’t withdrawn, but unpleasant for him regardless. If this sort of malarkey was unchecked, clubs could routinely offer players favourable terms to get them signed up (dissuade them from joining other clubs) and then withdraw at the last minute, offering a much worse deal.

Still, if United withdrew then Dave is not bound and can do what he likes. I suppose the extent to which this is unethical or immoral depends on how long we kept him on the hook with a one-way commitment. It also depends on the actual facts of the case, which have been subject to contradictory press reports and general speculation.

After reflecting on this a bit, there is a lack of honour and integrity from the club in not standing by their offer. But I don’t have that much sympathy for Dave, really, because it sounds like he played hardball when a little more humility was appropriate. And I don’t see that he is in a worse position now than if no offer had been made at all.

He’s been highly paid and and has done his best. His time as no1 at United is over; all good things come to an end. All said and done, it’s a bit of a mess but it’s not a big deal.
In my opinion the club has done him a favour and I’m sure he wouldn’t have signed if he knew Ten Hag either didn’t want him there it were bringing in a permanent number 1.
 

Solius

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We could do worse than picking up this guy on a free.
 

Adnan

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I think the club did well not to announce anything when it was clear from reports that they had been planning to sign a new GK since last year.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Who gets testimonials these days? Players are loaded

Unless its charity based, no point.
They pretty much always are nowadays. Charity of the player's choosing or a charity that's already affiliated with the club.
 

DJ_21

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Can see him going to Turkey or somewhere like that.
 

OrcaFat

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In any event, here we are. Looking back, the club should have told Dave much sooner that we services were no longer required. It is a big deal that the club handled the situation as it has, but what’s done is done.
I do understand your point of view but is it realistic to expect the club to lay out all their plans for all the players in advance?

By some accounts we wanted to keep Dave around but even if that changed, it seems like we hadn’t made a firm decision until quite late in the day.

From the club’s point of view, why should they tell any player whether or not they want them to stay until such time as it suits the club to do that? On the other hand, does a long time servant such as Dave deserve special treatment? Possibly he does.

I call it even. Dave tried to get the best for himself and so did the club. He managed to get a beautiful contract last time around and we were happy to pay it (there’s room for debate about who got the best deal there but it was all fair and ran its course).

When the dust settles, as others have posted, he’ll realise he’s better off finding a new club as a free agent than warming our bench.

I should mention that I spent a lot of time defending Dave when he was being called a coward and a weakling, these were pathetic insults, imo, from people who couldn’t appreciate that he has his own style. He is what he is - a good keeper and, from what little we know about him, a good man. I wish him every happiness.

Thanks for the discussion, by the way. It’s been cathartic and enlightening.
 

Zen

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He's been a free agent for 8 days, and a known expiring contract for obviously far longer.... and he has no rumoured suitors or major interest, including Saudi!. Seriously telling, and also seriously telling on how bad it was of United to continue with him based on loyalty from a seriously great run just because, essentially, he was still young-ish for a goalkeeper.

At most only 2-3 teams in the Prem would likely have any interest in him, and his ego almost certainly wouldn't accept those, nothing wrong with that, he's coming from United!

He gets way too much hate when he was continually getting selected by someone else. Massive respect for the good years, and massive respect the mental toughness to tolerate the bullshit he had too relentlessly deal with the past 18 months. Even if that 2 hour "film" of his blunders was hysterical in an absolutely embarrassing way for whoever made it :lol:
 

MadDogg

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I might be in the minority on this but allowing a player to run down his contract is financial sacrilege to me.

The PSG board have it right in their comments about Mbappe. Allowing a player to leave for free makes no sense.

Wait until the final year and by all means offer them a contract you feel is worthy of their place. If they don't accept then transfer list them no matter who they are.
De Gea was literally unsellable. His wages were so ridiculously out-of-sync with his performances that we would have had to pay clubs big money to take him.
 
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