It’s almost time to say goodbye to possibly greatest goalkeeper Manchester United has ever seen.
Aside from a rocky first few months, it has always been the same for David De Gea at United. He performs the miracles and hopes beyond hope that his teammates can do their part.
He was rewarded with a league title at the end of his second season with the club but the four and a half that have followed have seen him do some heavy lifting, heavy saving. There have been rewards – three cup successes and three consecutive player of the year accolades [Matt Busby award] – but it is not commensurate with De Gea’s astounding feats.
Each summer that passes, United splash the cash and buy in the players that are supposed to be the missing link. De Gea will welcome the new arrivals and hope they live up to their promise, he will have been given the big sell by his manager, will hear the fans urging him to stick around. One more year. We’re nearly there.
The Spaniard was close to leaving in the summer transfer window of 2015 but Real Madrid botched that deal by stalling too long. Madrid will continue to be linked with De Gea for as long as he is up there with the world’s best goalkeepers but he bought into Jose Mourinho and the notion that he could return the club to the top.
And then Manchester City burst out of the blocks and have yet to slow down. United kept pace until what is turning out to be a pivotal trip to Anfield occurred.
They faced a Liverpool side that had conceded 13 goals in their opening seven league games and went out with very little ambition of winning the game. It was a tactic that worked for Mourinho against Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool, two seasons previous, but the circumstances were different and Liverpool’s defence was there to be tested. Instead, United sat deep and lumped long, hopeful balls to Romelu Lukaku.
Ultimately, it was De Gea who saved them from defeat with a superb stop from Joel Matip. Mourinho was unrepentant in his post-match press briefings but that game was soon forgotten. Everyone was talking about City that night, as they thrashed Stoke City 7-2 to open up a two-point gap at the top.
11 weeks and 13 games on, that gap now stands at 14 points… to Chelsea. United are back in third place. They gave up that momentum at Anfield and have never looked like getting it back. They never will either. Not until 2018/19 but will De Gea really be around for that? Surely not. Surely, he’s seen enough.
Mourinho will get a lot of flak for United’s current slump and some of it is merited.
On Saturday, Southampton went to Old Trafford off the back of a shellacking from Tottenham at Wembley. Under Alex Ferguson, United would have gone for the jugular in the opening half hour. A relentless pace and urgency was needed but that only appeared in the final 15 minutes.
Mourinho opted to leave Anthony Martial AND Marcus Rashford on the bench against one of the slowest, most fragile back fours in the league. Instead, they played with three No.10s – Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard – and everyone had to have their touches. The pace and zip was taken out of too many attacks. It was almost as if Bastian Schweinsteiger [the injury-riddled version] had been cloned.
And was there any need for both Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic to both jog back to collect the ball off Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof when the entire United backline only had Shane Long to deal with for much of the match?
But tactics aside, some of United’s players have been dreadful in recent weeks.
Mata will give his all but he is fast running out of time at the club. Lukaku did not last long but he managed to miss a header from six yards out and was very poor in the 2-2 draw with Burnley. Rashford was dropped after the Burnley game and missed two great chances against the Saints.
Mkhitaryan’s confidence is shot to pieces and his attitude in the Southampton game looked as appalling as some of his crosses. Lingard was one of the few lively players but missed another couple of good goalscoring chances. Matic had four shots – three of them were a combined mile off target while an offside Paul Pogba needlessly got a touch on his fourth, a goal-bound effort.
Pogba was the best outfield United player on the park and should not be the fall-guy for that instinctual, but costly, decision.
As for De Gea, he was magnificent again. He made one stunning save, low and to his left, to deny James Ward-Prowse but his second-half stop to deny Long a goal, with his right boot, was even better.
He did his job while so many around him failed to do theirs and others didn’t look arsed about it either way.
Another season is half-way through and the league will not be won. United could yet out-do themselves in Europe but it may take a Champions League win to keep De Gea at the club next season. More promises, player signings and goodwill from the fans won’t cut it.
When he goes, there will be a debate about whether or not he is United’s greatest ever No.1.
Peter Schmeichel was a giant and was crucial in so many of United’s triumphs of 1990s. De Gea may be a notch above. I’ve seen them both and appreciated them both.
To me, it does not matter. De Gea is great and that is more than enough.
United fans should be angry if he leaves next summer but they should not be angry at him. He has more than done his job but so many around him have failed, time and again. Teammates, coaches, managers, club owners. He was even failed by some supporters who take their seats and often just expect United to dominate without them playing their vocal, encouraging part.
He will be missed.
