David de Gea received a bizarre message from the head of Spain’s FA congratulating him on retiring from international football, according to reports in Spain.
Despite being in good form for Manchester United, Luis Enrique overlooked the 32-year-old when naming his 26-man Spain squad for the winter World Cup in Qatar.
Athletic Bilbao stopper Unai Simon and Premier League duo Robert Sanchez (Brighton & Hove Albion) and David Raya (Brentford) were named ahead of United’s number one.
The former Atletico Madrid youngster has shown signs of being moulded into the goalkeeper Erik ten Hag craves in recent months.
While looking far more comfortable in possession, De Gea has also shown a willingness to rush off his line and operate as a sweeper keeper, which allows Ten Hag’s backline to push high up the pitch.
But De Gea’s recent improvements, alongside being one of the best shot stoppers in the game, weren’t enough to earn himself an international recall under former Barcelona manager Enrique.
David de Gea receives message congratulating him on retiring from international football
De Gea, who has 45 caps to Spain to his name, hasn’t represented his country since facing Ukraine back in October 2020.
While De Gea’s omission from the Spain’s World Cup squad didn’t come as that much of a surprise considering where he stands under Enrique, United’s in-form stopper has reportedly been left “surprised” by claims he’s decided to call time on his international career.
“De Gea has been a bit of a strange subject,” journalist Jose Alvarez told El Chiringuito.
“Suddenly he disappeared from the call ups a few months ago and Luis Enrique did call David to tell him he was not going to count on him. He told him that it was a technical decision. Obviously, David asked him what the reason was, but he was not given any further explanation.
“A few days later David receives a message from [Luis] Rubiales, president of the [Spain] Federation, who says ‘David I am glad that you have finally made the decision you have been thinking about. I have already been told that you are leaving the national team’.
“To this David replies ‘Sorry? There is no renunciation of anything, who has told you that I renounce anything? The coach has told me that he is not going to count on me, but I have never renounced the national team, nor do I intend to do so, that is if I am called up’.
“He was a bit surprised by the communication between Luis Enrique and Rubiales, and that Rubiales sent him the message saying that he was going to resign from the national team or that he had made the decision after thinking about it, never mind congratulations for taking the decision.”
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