What's the thinking behind all United's goalkeepers?

Infra-red

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There is no thinking behind it. A lack of forethought and planning is why we are in the ridiculous position of having four senior goalkeepers, with salaries amounting £25m+ pa, none of whom are actually good enough.
 

devilish

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- DDG is simply unsellable. No one is going to pay a looping 19.5m a year salary on a GK that is decent but not WC
- Henderson is the near future of the club. He's also paid a lot for someone with a decent shot of being MUQ first team keeper but had yet to make the position his
- Heaton is a top no 3. If injuries doesn't betray him again then he might even give the no 2 a run for his money
- God knows why we kept Grant.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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There is no thinking behind it. A lack of forethought and planning is why we are in the ridiculous position of having four senior goalkeepers, with salaries amounting £25m+ pa, none of whom are actually good enough.
Lack of forethought and planning is when you end up scrambling for a back up goalie with an hour left in the transfer window. There was a plan to have Heaton as the second choice with one of de Gea or Henderson set to leave. There could be many logical reasons for it as Henderson's injury could be more serious than previously thought, leading to him missing games. They might have had a loan or permanent move for one of the two first choice keepers which hasn't materialised yet or still might happen.
 

gajender

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De Gea has made it plain to see that he isnt going nowhere. He has come back early to start training. Does that mean Henderson will be sold? Something must be in the pipeline as you dont get rid of Romero to bring in Heaton, with 2 goalies in front of him.
I read that Grant is a player coach, so although he wasnt a top class goalie, he is somehow going to coach our goalies to be better. :lol: Never a dull day at United.
I don't know whether Grant is a good coach or not ,but it's clearly nonsense to think only top players can be good or great coaches .
 

foolsgold

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It's a mess, Heaton as a number 2 and keeping our first choice keeper on his toes, absolutely.

I don't see how we keep De Gea and Henderson. As i understand it, Dean has made clear he wants to play or leave on a permanent basis. Which is fair enough, England are going into a world cup cycle and he wants to (and should) dislodge Pickford. He's not going to struggle to find a club.

De Gea, total legend but coming off two average seasons and on huge wages? It's a tricky one. Personally I've lost confidence in him, he looks unlucky sometimes. Better to try and move him on, even if we take a huge hit.
 

GlasgowCeltic

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I'd expected it to play out Donnaruma to Juve and DDG to PSG with Henderson as Utd no.1. Not sure it would've been the right decision going with Henderson, but it would've been a decision atleast. All feels a bit Tim Howard and Roy Carroll as it is now
 

Dec9003

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Seems like Grant is effectively retired at this point, just doing coaching and being a cheap option if we had drastic issues, no problem with him extending. As for the other three, if one of De Gea or Henderson don’t leave this window, they will surely leave within the next 12 months, which would make Heaton the number 2. It’s just decent forward planning to me. I agree with @Schmeichel's Cartwheel and think Heaton could have a period as our no1.
 

Rozay

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Chelsea’d have shopped Henderson for £40m-£50m last summer.
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Henderson will be number one, at least to start with
Whilst the club would like to offload De Gea of course, he’s determined to stay and run down his contract. This, plus his eye wateringly high wages mean that it’s going to be very difficult to shift him
 

tomaldinho1

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It really isn't an issue.

Grant I think is already a hybrid coach/player, Heaton is a cheap but proven back up (again probably being viewed as a coach longer term, also not sure if he would somehow help us re technically being a Homegrown player but regardless he's not going be on high wages). Then you just have the DDG versus Henderson which is a good situation to be in & you presume the club would accept any 'good' offers for the former.
 

Redlyn

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Why would tom heaton even come here and be 3rd choice. I want to imagine he was told he'd be second choice. Let's see what happens.
 

1988

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I don't understand why everyone seems so upset and being super dramatic about us having four goalkeepers. They seem a unit and I'm sure it helps with the development and training.

But could it have something to with HG rule?
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Why would tom heaton even come here and be 3rd choice. I want to imagine he was told he'd be second choice. Let's see what happens.
Whilst he may be 3rd choice at present, he certainly has more chance of getting a Premier League start here than he would have at Villa
 

The holy trinity 68

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Regardless of opinions or preferences about the goalkeepers in which question the reality is this:

De Gea - £375,000 a week
Henderson - £100,000 a week
Grant - £30,000 a week

Then adding in Heaton who’s reportedly on a similar wage to what he earned at Villa (~£47,000 p/w) and we’re totalling well over £500,000 a week on goalkeepers. Without a clearly defined number 1. I don’t understand the thinking behind that.

It’s not even particularly useful from the perspective of competition as I don’t think Henderson and De Gea are pushing one another to be better, but rather the prospect of being dropped in favour of the other is hindering performance. De Gea’s confidence in himself seems shot while Henderson seems to be trying to overcompensate in areas De Gea struggles in which leads to some unnecessarily erratic moments.

Continuing with this goalkeeping purgatory is counterproductive imo.
I thought Henderson was on £200,000 a week?
 

FlawlessThaw

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They decided Henderson is number 1 and they can’t sell De Gea so that’s the problem.
 

Møllemanden

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They decided Henderson is number 1 and they can’t sell De Gea so that’s the problem.
I think you're right. Spain dumped him as first choice long time ago. We should have done the same. Even in his best seasons, i've never felt safe with him between the sticks.
 

2 man midfield

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I think you're right. Spain dumped him as first choice long time ago. We should have done the same. Even in his best seasons, i've never felt safe with him between the sticks.
Even when he was the reason we finished second in 2018?
 

sillwuka

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I think Ole is giving himself one more year to see where we go with the GK department.

By the end of the Season, one of of De Gea or Hendo will leave and we will know if we need a new 1st choice altogether.

Heaton is our safety net back up keeper to cover us whichever arises.
 

Møllemanden

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Even when he was the reason we finished second in 2018?
Yep. Since day one when he was absolutely dreadful on set plays, i've never trusted him. I'm not saying he never had good spells - he did. But his errors are more and more frequent and more and more weird. He isn't a presence at all.
 

bosnian_red

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If we hoard all the goalkeepers eventually other clubs will struggle to put out a starting 11
 

NinjaZombie

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I read somewhere that the idea is to have more goalkeepers to allow flexibility in training. You can have more smaller sided games in training.
Yeah, very likely. Grant is essentially a part of the coaching setup at this point.
 

TwoSheds

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Right now I think Heaton may just be our best GK. I'm guessing Henderson will get a long run as no.1 though given he's one for the long term if it works out. De Gea may well become something of a forgotten man if he's not careful. Bale style loan to a decent club for the year?
 
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anant

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I have a feeling we'll keep Dave. Henderson is easy to sell, and while he's a good communicator and comes out of his line which can help us play a slightly higher line, his handling and shot stopping isn't that great. I'd sell Henderson this year while his stock is high, and then think of selling Dave as well next season only to buy a genuine top quality GK.
 

El Jefe

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The route of all these problems was offering DDG that ridiculous contract extension. DDG is under no illusions that he's as great as he once was, he's behind Unai Simon for Spain so there's no way we're getting him off the books. Henderson has the ego of Schmeichel but the ability of a EL level gk so that doesn't help matters much either.

This season should be a trial for both again and we should bin off Hendo if he doesn't prove to be good enough as he'll be easier to sell. We could possibly loan DDG on a subsidised salary like we did for Sanchez and buy a proper top quality goalie. It's not ideal but this is what's most likely on the cards.
 

yamo123x

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Heaton coming in inevitably means one thing....whether its this summer or winter window I think De Gea will be gone....its the wages, 19.5million a year.. and no longer first choice...
Been a great servant for us but the wages are the issue.

Im not totally convinced by Hendo but he is younger, home grown ( sort of) and prob ticks alot of boxes..

Issue will be offloading De gea, his stock has shrunk in Spain, no longer SPanish number 1 and who is going to pay his wages?
 

sun_tzu

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I can't see any team buying DDG. He'll go out on loan and we'll be subsidising his wages. I can't even see which top team will take him on loan, maybe inter who were linked to some keepers.

While I agree that players should be rewarded for their performance, we do love throwing mega wages at players and then getting bogged down by it when they're in decline.
I cant see anybody taking De Gea... I also cant see the glazers agreeing to pay 250k a week or something like that to subsidise him playing elsewhere... (isnt he on £350k a week?)

As such I think we end up with DDG as our no 1 and Henderson is loaned or sold with a buyback option.
 

TwoSheds

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I cant see anybody taking De Gea... I also cant see the glazers agreeing to pay 250k a week or something like that to subsidise him playing elsewhere... (isnt he on £350k a week?)

As such I think we end up with DDG as our no 1 and Henderson is loaned or sold with a buyback option.
Well the Glazers and Ed have shown that they're pretty bad at business over the years but if they're going to try and pick the team then I think they know there'll be trouble given the events if recent months. As such it will be a choice of knock £100k off the wage bill and suck it up or sit there with £375k a week twiddling his thumbs.
 

bond19821982

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Well, thing is Hendo is not ready yet and he looks miles below the level we expect. There is definitely a decent keeper out here but we will not tolerate lot of mistakes.
 

Champagne Football

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The thinking is there's a tiny chance someone will offer De Gea a loan move, pay half his salary. So at least we will be prepared if some club comes in for him on the last day of the transfer window.

He's been stealing a living at Utd for about 5 seasons now and I think the club want him gone, and don't want his greedy agent Mendes anywhere near the club again either.
 

miked99

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Is anyone else concerned by these quotes from Henderson?

" I worked every day, day-in and day-out, I was grinding down to get into that team at Man United. I went through every brick wall I could get through, I fought hard and when I got into the team I was shattered, I was exhausted. I was mentally tired, I'd done everything right to get into the team, but I'd used up all my energy worrying about getting into the team. So when I got into the team I had a good little run and then got injured and then I struggled. "

Doesn't really suggest he has the calm mentality and ability to cope with pressure that's needed, does it?
 

Gandalf

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The thinking is there's a tiny chance someone will offer De Gea a loan move, pay half his salary. So at least we will be prepared if some club comes in for him on the last day of the transfer window.

He's been stealing a living at Utd for about 5 seasons now and I think the club want him gone, and don't want his greedy agent Mendes anywhere near the club again either.
Massive distortion of the facts, his form has slumped over the last couple of seasons but during Jose's first 2 seasons here he was fantastic.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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he made a couple of fantastic saves against derby to be fair. Hes a great keeper
He’s a very good keeper. Not as fashionable as the other 2 but less mistake prone. I truly believe he’ll be our starter at some point in the season after DDG & Henderson have messed up.
 

Matthew84!

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I really can't see why so many people have an issue with it.
DDG was being slowly phased out last season by only having the cup games and his performance in the final it made it clear hes no 2 this season. If he doesn't like it he'll leave.
Perhaps we can trade him with the Atletico GK?