Louis van Gaal has pulled back the curtain on the David de Gea situation.
With reports that the Manchester United manager was to drop his number one for the second successive game, Van Gaal revealed that his goalkeeping coach asked De Gea if he would like to play against Spurs last weekend.
“We talked with him [De Gea] and he fully agreed with our decision,” Van Gaal said. “I have one assistant coach and another assistant coach so we speak about that kind of thing together. We have a goalkeeping coach, Frans Hoek, and I’m not doing everything alone.
“He [Hoek] had a meeting with David de Gea and he asked him: ‘Do you want to play?’”
When asked how the Spaniard responded, Van Gaal claimed that his goalkeeper declined.
“‘No.’ Then I have to take the decision. It is a process. We had been observing him in preparation, he was not so good, he was not the same David de Gea as before. He was my best player last season. According to the fans, he was the best of the last two years.”
Sergio Romero looks certain to start for United’s second game of the season and with the relationship between Van Gaal and De Gea becoming increasingly strained, don’t be surprised to have already seen the last of the Spaniard in a United shirt.
