Why Ten Hag should follow Enrique's lead and dump De Gea

Cameron Smith

• 11 Nov 2022 08:45 CST
• 4 min read

David de Gea's omission from Spain's 2022 Qatar World Cup squad should come as little surprise.

The Manchester United number one wasn't even selected in his country's 55-man original squad, with head coach Luis Enrique sticking to his principle of possession football starting from his goalkeeper.

The ability to play out from the back is why Unai Simon is Spain's first-choice 'keeper and is also why both David Raya and Robert Sanchez are on the plane to Qatar as well.

READ: What is Spain's World Cup squad?

De Gea simply doesn't fit Enrique's style of play and the former Barcelona manager has decided to stick to his system and has picked players based off their ability to play in that fashion rather than simply down to playing ability.

It wasn't long ago that De Gea was considered to be in the conversation for the world's best goalkeeper, but being omitted from Spain's World Cup squad has put into perspective where he is in his career right now.

The 32-year-old has been the number one goalkeeper at Old Trafford for a decade, but his place in the squad was questioned upon Erik ten Hag's arrival at the club during the summer of 2022.

READ: Revealed: Man Utd's two options to replace De Gea

Similar to Enrique, Ten Hag likes his goalkeeper to play as the first attacker, beginning sequences via astute passes from deep with immense comfortability on the ball. That doesn't describe De Gea and in fact highlights the biggest weakness in his game.

De Gea hasn't adapted to what's required of a modern goalkeeper and it's why Enrique has snubbed him for Spain - it's time Ten Hag does the same at Man Utd.

Ten Hag must replace De Gea

Concerns still remain about De Gea's ability on the ball. Ten Hag implemented a possession-dominant system at Ajax and relied on his goalkeeper to be an adept passer as well as being comfortable sweeping behind the back four.

It's what Andre Onana did so successfully for years, and without a goalkeeper capable of doing that, Ten Hag's side isn't as effective. After all, there's a reason why both Liverpool and Manchester City also require their goalkeepers to play an active role in possession and sweeping to cover a high line.

But De Gea hasn't shown he can do this; he is instead a goalkeeper who tends to stay on his line rather than command his penalty area. This can be seen by the fact De Gea has successfully stopped just 1.5% of the crosses delivered into Man Utd's penalty area during the 2021/22 campaign. That ranked bottom of the entire Premier League.

He was also the goalkeeper with the fourth lowest defensive actions outside the penalty area per 90 on 0.66 last term. Those two stats combined show that De Gea isn't someone who suits a Ten Hag system.

Furthermore, De Gea attempted the second least number of passes per 90 of goalkeepers in England's top flight last season with 16.4.

If Ten Hag is serious about translating his blueprint from Ajax to Man Utd then he should take a leaf out of Enrique's book and dump De Gea in order to sign a goalkeeper capable of fulfilling the Onana role.