How De Gea could play his way into new Man Utd contract
Suraj Radia
- 31 Oct 2022 17:13 CDT
- 3 min read
David de Gea could leave Manchester United next summer but his recent performances have shown that it will take big hands to fill his gloves and replicate his impact to the team.
De Gea put in a heroic performance to during United’s recent 1-0 win over West Ham, making a number of outstanding second-half saves to protect his side’s lead and secure the victory.
The Spaniard has conceded just one goal in his last six games across all competitions and his five clean sheets is the joint-third best of any goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.
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United have a one-year option in De Gea’s contract, which expires next summer but the 31-year-old is among the highest earners at Old Trafford and could be released.
The club are believed to be willing to consider keeping De Gea if he signs a new deal on significantly reduced terms, but even a 50% wage cut would make him one of the highest-paid goalkeepers in the league.
With young, ball-playing keepers supposedly being tracked, and Dean Henderson to return from his loan at Nottingham Forest, De Gea’s elite shot stopping may not be enough to save his United career.
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Shot stopping is not enough to keep De Gea at Old Trafford
De Gea has established himself as one of the elite goalkeepers in the world since signing for United over a decade ago and, at his peak, he single-handedly won games and trophies for his team.
However, while his shot-stopping has never been in doubt, questions have always been asked over his aerial ability as well as his uncertainty with the ball at his feet.
Those questions have yet to be answered this season, with De Gea ranking the worst of any Premier League keeper at stopping crosses, preventing just 2.7% into his area, compared to the average of around 7%.
De Gea is also in the bottom three for percentage of successful ‘launched’ passes by a goalkeeper, completing just 28.5% of his passes longer than 40 yards.
Furthermore, while De Gea is capable of making incredible stops, his actual save percentage this season is 67%, ranking him 16th out of 22 qualifying keepers.
With De Gea also ranking in the top five of players with the most errors leading to a goal in the past five years, the stats ultimately dictate that his goalkeeping can be unpredictable and limited, even if he is capable of saves that not many keepers can replicate.
Erik ten Hag has made no secret of his desire for his keeper to be able to play out from the back, meaning De Gea will need dramatic improvement in his less-impressive attributes in order to stay as United’s number one.
