THE DECLINE OF DE GEA
Keeper’s dramatic slump in form is not down to poor technique but a crisis of confidence
His Nou Camp mistake may have put paid to a Real deal
12 DAVID DE GEA has not kept a clean sheet in his last 12 games. He has managed only seven in the league all season. Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has the most clean sheets with 18.
As Leroy sane’s firm strike flicked off the boot of David de Gea at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, some on the United bench might have been transported back to the goalkeeper’s troublesome first season at the club.
Those were the days when De Gea was caught pinching doughnuts from his local Tesco and when one national newspaper decided to interview Massimo Taibi to compare the two goalkeepers’ starts to life at Manchester United.
For Ole Gunnar solskjaer’s assistant Mike Phelan, the angst may be familiar. He was there, alongside sir Alex Ferguson, as De Gea toiled badly.
Even on the good nights, Ferguson was exasperated. In a Champions League match against Real Madrid in 2013, De Gea made a series of stunning saves but was unorthodox. ‘Can’t he use his hands?’ Ferguson complained from the dugout.
De Gea’s playground- style ability to block shots with his feet has been one of his greatest virtues. Indeed, after a series of saves against Tottenham earlier this season, the social media memes suggested it may be time a goalkeeper rather than a striker received the Golden Boot. Yet, out- of-form and off- colour, the virtue is now seen as a vice.
But De Gea will not change. As a late teen he persisted with his unique methods, and at United he requested his goalkeeping coach Eric steele follow some of his student’s own feet-based drills.
Over the last eight years he has been United’s most consistent source of excellence. The question ss marks over his technique, therefore, seem harsh.
so too do the suggestions he is distracted by the noise surrounding his contract. After all, the vast majority of f De Gea’s past five e years at Old Trafford rd has been dogged by suggestions he is eitherher on the brink of a movee to Real Madrid or stumbling over contract negotiations with United.
Instead, De Gea is simply enduring a crisis of confidence. It can be seen in his hesitation when picking passes, his hand-flapping after yet another goal sneaks in.
During a goalkeeper’s career, this can occasionally happen. But De Gea has been at least partially responsible for goals conceded against Arsenal, Wolves, West Ham, Barcelona, Everton and Manchester City over the past six weeks, and it is an alarming slump in form.
The goalkeepers’ union will, justifiably, argue that De Gea has credit in the bank and wonder why his strikers have not bailed him out in the way he has spent the past five years sparing their own blushes.
Unfortunately for De Gea, his ppersonal drop in performance hahas coincided wwithit United scorinscoring just three goals frofrom open play in nine games. For De Gea, these errors are the shockwaves of a distressing World Cup for spain last summer. He made a series of glaring errors starting from the first match against Portugal and made one save from 12 shots faced at the tournament. The spanish media savaged his performance, while De Gea has previously crossed swords with politicians and the printed press in spain over false allegations about his private life.
The good news for United is that this all makes it more unlikely that Real Madrid will come calling again this summer for De Gea.
Indeed, that Nou Camp mistake for Lionel Messi’s goal may have put paid to a Real deal — the wrong place, the wrong time and also the wrong rival to drop your biggest Champions League clanger against. De Gea’s contract expires in the summer of 2020 and Madrid are minded to give Thibaut Courtois another season to prove himself while De Gea’s contract stand- off at Old Trafford could well run into next season. This has been United’s position lately. They have refused to countenance selling one of their best players this summer but in light of recent form, the goalposts may shift.
For the first time in a long while, United have a decision to make over De Gea, rather than the other way around. A more pressing decision could come on sunday if De Gea is dropped for the visit of Chelsea. Might it be the jolt he needs or would it be wiser to play through the pain?
In the longer term, De Gea has been informed that Paris saintGermain are prepared to spend big on both a fee and his £350,000per- week wage demands this summer, yet the goalkeeper ideally prefers to play in a more competitive domestic league.
De Gea, for his part, remains open to staying at United but wants clear assurances that the club will restructure in a way that makes it possible not only to return to the Champions League but compete to win the competition in the coming years.
At United, they have formidable sources of support for the goalkeeper. De Gea hand-picked his preferred goalkeeping coach, Emilio Alvarez, when Jose Mourinho joined the club as part of his agreement to remain at United.
Alvarez’s bond with De Gea goes back a decade to their time together at Atletico Madrid when the goalkeeper was a teenager. On one occasion during his troublesome first season at United, De Gea even texted Alvarez from the United dressing room at half-time to ask for urgent advice.
solskjaer clearly thinks the world of De Gea and Phelan was involved in the scouting process to sign him all those years ago.
Now the trio must rebuild their goalkeeper’s shattered confidence once more.