Man Utd legend tips David De Gea to leave in the summer

Nicholas Hughes

• Updated: 17 May 2021 16:31 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand predicts David De Gea to leave the club in the summer after having been replaced by Dean Henderson as the side’s No.1 goalkeeper.

The Spaniard has made a string of high-profile errors in recent seasons and has now been replaced for both club and country, with Unai Simon assuming duties for Spain in the recent international break.

And Ferdinand believes De Gea is unlikely to accept playing second fiddle at Old Trafford and tipped the 30-year-old to seek a move in the summer.

“You’ve got two options: you fight for your position or you say, ‘that’s me done, I’m off and I’ll go somewhere else,” he told BT Sport.

“If Dean Henderson finishes the season as No.1, I don’t see De Gea staying there. No chance, I don’t see it. I think he’ll go out now.”

De Gea’s best Manchester United games

Ferdinand cited De Gea’s wages as another potential sticking point in any possibility of him staying on.

The 30-year-old is believed to be United’s highest paid player, earning somewhere in the vicinity of £375,000, and his deal still has at least two years left to run with an option to extend in the 2023/24 season.

In 2018, De Gea became the only player in Manchester United’s history to win the club’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award four times and was at the very top of European football.

If De Gea’s ego isn’t hurting, he shouldn’t be hereRio Ferdinand

But since then he has steadily declined with age and Henderson has been given the opportunity to take the reigns in goal.

On Henderson, Ferdinand said it is up to him to make the No.1 shirt his own after impressing on loan at Sheffield United last season.

“Henderson has been waiting for this opportunity. Now the pressure is on him,” he said.

“Can he handle it? It’s okay being the No.1 at Sheffield United, but it’s a different kettle of fish at Manchester United.”

Time will tell what happens in between the sticks for United, with Solskjaer insisting both will get their opportunities, but De Gea could be out the exit door if he is asked to play second fiddle.