David de Gea is not looking forward to dealing with the World Cup ball this summer.
Spain’s No.1 got his hands on the adidas Telstar 18 during Friday night’s friendly against Germany and it’s safe to say that he’s not a fan.
De Gea is usually so confident in his catlike agility that he encourages opposition players to shoot from range but he anticipates a lot of difficulty in Russia.
The Manchester United ‘keeper played the full 90 minutes against Germany and conceded a screamer from Thomas Muller from outside the area.
Muller what a beauty! pic.twitter.com/kmhwX7oKO5
— HM (@Arsenal_DB10) March 23, 2018
“It’s really strange,” de Gea said of the ball, via AS.
“It could have been made a lot better.”
De Gea’s international understudy Pepe Reina insisted that “they should change it” in his assessment of the ball.
“I bet you as much as you like that we’ll see at least 35 goals from long range [in Russia], because it’s impossible to work out,” Reina said. “And it’s covered in a plastic film that makes it difficult to hold on to.
“Goalkeepers are going to have a lot of problems with this ball.”
Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen might be behind Manuel Neuer in the pecking order of the defending world champions in Russia but he played the full game against Spain and he was also adamant that the ball would provide plenty of problems for the men between the sticks at the World Cup.
“The ball could be better; it moves a lot,” Ter Stegen said. “But I think we’re just going to have to get used to working with it, and try to get to grips with it as quickly as possible before the World Cup starts.
“We’ve got no other option.”
