Manchester United won’t be taken seriously if they keep David de Gea

The Manchester United shot-stopper stopped stopping shot years ago.

The modern footballing world can be too soft. This is why the very best of the best managers have a tenacious attitude about them; take Pep Guardiola for example, he is not one to rest on his laurels; if a player doesn’t fit his system or is performing badly, that player simply won’t play, regardless of sentimentality. Manchester United must take a leaf from his book.

If yesterday’s loss proved anything to the United fanbase, it’s that they are nowhere near ready. They may have had a couple of good performances against big teams this season, but when it really matters in the FA Cup semifinal, they crumbled and one man in particular.

David de Gea. I cannot think of a worse performance from a goalkeeper in a big match since… Loris Karius in the Champions League final. Yeah, I said it. The Spaniard was absolutely dreadful and completely at fault for all the three conceded goals. As a neutral fan, I’m not going to sugarcoat it.

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I don’t fear playing against De Gea as I once did. There was a point in time where I dubbed him as the best goalkeeper in the world because that’s how he was playing at the time. But now, I would argue he is the worst keeper in the Premier League top six and if anything, United suffer from starting him on some weeks.

Yes, he does make the odd good save, but don’t we know about it? I would rather a keeper played consistently throughout a match and prevented many average shots than saving one good shot and letting in three chances that could easily be stopped.

The good thing for Manchester United is that they, of course, have options. I would even argue they don’t need to splash the cash to replace De Gea since the options they have are sufficient enough. Dean Henderson has been phenomenal this season so he could easily compete with Sergio Romero, who is oftentimes reliable for the Red Devils, for a place in the starting XI.

If United want to be taken seriously, they can’t keep playing De Gea. He is past it, it’s as simple as that.

What did you make of David de Gea’s performance against Chelsea last night?