We've had very substandard players, even now we are riddle with players massively overhyped by our fan base. Players who have won nothing major but treated like royalty while taking home huge salaries.
David de Gea has left Manchester United
- Thread starter Tom Van Persie
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Kinda sad that he's still without a club. I hope he isn't pricing himself out of work.
Does seem strange. Surely he'd still be very good at a Europa League level, and a big enough name for a Saudi sort of situation.
Odd.
Damning indictment of the standards of Manchester United that he was allowed to remain first choice for as long as he did. Just last season, you had fans on here claiming he’s still a good keeper. He was a major reason in holding this club back from becoming a modern unit.
Always felt he'd have a hard time finding a club. The only clubs where he'd be good enough for, would offer far too little money and are of far too small reputation to take him on for him to accept.
Maybe he's just had enough, I'm sure he'll have had several offers.
He's probably enjoying his money and loving life away from the game.
He's probably enjoying his money and loving life away from the game.
From the most wanted keeper in word football, to not having any (big name) suitors. What a fall from grace.
We’re miles off being a modern unit, the team can barely put 5 passes together and half of the time players are literally at walking pace refusing to make runs. No keeper can change that.
Imagine trying to play the way we did against Arsenal before the injuries with DDG in net.
Fans cant blame the club on this one, because there was a collective delusion on the Caf and with Man Utd fans online that DDG was by far the best keeper in the world. Nobody else ever thought of him that way but it was ingrained so deep that, for years, I avoided all DDG related threads on the Caf because I knew it'd be a circlejerk around a below average keeper. He was, and probably still is, the best shot blocker in the world, there's no denying that. But that's just one aspect of the goalkeeper role and he's below average to abysmal in all the others.
And he used to make almost €2M/m, 15 times the average wage of a GK in Ligue 1 (I know we're a poor league, but still). Unless he/his agents make it known that he's willing to play for very cheap, he's going to have a hard time finding a spot in Europe.
Very possible considering how stressful it must be as the last line of defence for a team like United
We attempted to do something like that in the opening two fixtures of last season and we quickly reverted to norm. Which, kind of, highlights the issue. First, you have United, who couldn't see the obvious and went against the grain by making De Gea the top-earning goalkeeper in the world. In doing so, the defence was forced to live with his strengths and weaknesses as he was the constant at the back. Then, you have De Gea himself, valued and treated like royalty at the club, never bothering to improve or adjust his game. And now he finds himself in a weird predicament, simply because most good sides have defences more used to having a ball-playing GK than not behind them. And if that's not the case, they at least expect him to clear crosses and dangerous balls coming into the box. If he expects the red carpet, chances are he'll be disappointed. There were always asterisks about his overall package (outside the United echo chamber) and his last truly magnificent season as a reflex keeper goes back to 2018. Five years is a long time in football for someone to be in such steady decline.
One would imagine his wage demands would be a factor with any new club. Even with a massive pay cut from his United wages, most clubs would not be able to work that in for a player in his 30s.
Sad take from some on here, perhaps a better take is one of thankfulness that he gave us the lions share of his career and some great years in goal as our safety net despite a nonchance to win anything and kept us afloat during hard turmoil. All players eventually decline. Our fanbase overall is a disgrace at times.
Agreed. He was class for us and a shining light during some pretty grim times. Emphasis on ''was'' though. I think we held on to him for far too long and overpaid for the privilege.
I'm sure if he was desperate to play he'd be playing. I imagine the wages he's looking for or the level of club he wants isn't realistic.
We've spent a few 100 mills incl. a 'modern' keeper but it looks like the club is still being held back.
I know he's fallen off a lot but how is he without a club still?!
Wages. The level of club that would want him at this point would likely require him to take a ~90% wage cut from what he was previously earning.
Asking for too high wages i imagine. No club will give him 150k a week lets say. And the ones where he would play, probably offer below 100k.
His wage demands must be pretty stupidly high for him to not have a club, but he’s got to give in from that surely just to keep his career going. The football environment moves by pretty fast and he’s in danger of being forgotten about. Nobody’s going to want a guy who hasn’t played for months and is sticking to a stupidly high wage demand. He may as well retire if he’s going to be that stubborn.
I doubt it's wages. He's wouldn't be taking a wage cut because he's not being paid. He was wiling to take a huge wage cut to stay at United - deep down he must have known he wasn't worth 350k a week when you're spain's 6th choice keeper. I think it's more likely the simple explanation that he thinks he's better than he is in terms of the teams that have come in for him. He likely believes he's one of the best keepers in the world, but the only clubs that have come in for him are in his eyes sub par.
Not when he's conceding goals like he did v Sevilla, west ham, Brentford, Everton.
Which part is the sad take? Many aren't being disrespectful to him.
A lot here who wanted him replaced mentioned he wouldnt get a top team even as a free, and would struggle to get a mid team unless he took a 90% wage cut.
Stating that or mentioning his deficiencies isn't being disrespect.
Nor is pointing out that whilst he gave us the lion share of his career, that wasn't solely due to his own preference. He wanted to leave in 2015 and was out thedoor until Madrid u-turned (fax machine issues).
I can see Martial been in the same situation next season.
Guess you are finally at peace now that he is gone
Looks like you aren'tGuess you are finally at peace now that he is gone
His time was up and perhaps ½-1 season overdue, that much is clear no matter what side of the isle people are on his tenure.Looks like you aren't
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Maybe be just wants to take a sabbatical. After earning all that money I am sure he can afford to.
Still annoyed he didn’t get the send off he deserved, he carried us in his prime.
In that season he still won the golden gloves though. Not a bad season for someone who’s so past it he can’t find a club. I feel sorry for him myself as I assume u do. He was regarded as the best keeper in the world by many not so long ago, certainly in the prem but now he’s old hat because he doesn’t have distribution like ederson and alisson even though no keepers did until neurer came along. He was a great keeper for us with some obvious flaws but made up for it with many more positives. If the games moved on and ETH wants a keeper who can distribute the ball like a quarter back then fair enough but the fact that DDG is unemployed at his age is a crying shame.
We still aren't a modern unit with one of if not the best ball playing keepers around.
That's not to say it wasn't time he needed replaced however.
I do yeah, he should have won more as much as any world class player deserves. Still happy he secured us for a great long time. I'm surprised he isn't playing, most certainly he has offers but perhaps holding out for something special, as a free agent he has time to find a club. Pretty sure he has much to give, goalies career last decently up to 35-38 in some capacity.
Not just wages (because he actually accepted quite a significant cut to wages from what we paid him) but wages compared to ability. De Gea is good for at least one or two ridiculous errors per game. He also is quite poor on the ball and invites pressure rather than easing it with his distribution. So given these two issues, he is at best a back-up now and clubs will only pay him as a back-up. So it's either he doesn't want to lower his demands or he is not yet ready to return to football but the video of him training suggests otherwise.
Him still not having a club is kinda wild.
I'm sure the £75 million we paid him in wages will have lessened the pain!
I wonder if he'll go into coaching early rather than continue playing.
I’m sure he isn’t worried about the cost of living but I bet he feels humiliated to be in this situation. Sancho’s on £350k a week I believe and look at his conduct this week about not making the bench let alone being an unsigned free agent.
I don't think it's that weird he isn't playing football right now. He's in his 30s and is probably having the time of his life with his enormous wealth. Why just play for anyone if you can easily afford to live a more than comfortable life? He'll get another club at some point, but I imagine it's a reasonable possibility that he's just having some time away from the game, even for a short while. Why the hell not?!
It’s crazy.
he played for one of the biggest clubs in the world and was / is far from finished.
but the lack of teams out there wanting to snap him up on a free is baffling.
the only reasons i can think of is that a) his salary demand are too high and he’s happy to sit back and wait for someone to agree to them, or b) he’s done with football and simply doesn’t want to play anymore
if it’s A, then he’s going to have to eat some massive humble pie to play for a top team again and the longer he doesn’t play, the older he gets and the slower his reactions get etc.
if it’s B, he earned enough and has every right to decide that and best of luck to him
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