It is no exaggeration to say that David de Gea is battling for his Manchester United future. Despite winning the club’s player of the year award last season, his future is very unclear.
This is in part due to his expensive contract, an estimated £375,000 per week, making him United’s highest earner since Cristiano Ronaldo left the club.
De Gea’s deal expires in June 2023, so United have an opportunity to move him on. The 32-year-old is doing his best to avoid this fate.
De Gea is improving under Ten Hag
David de Gea is an excellent shot stopper but it would be hard to describe him as a modern goalkeeper, because he is not.
The flaws of De Gea’s game have always been a reluctance to claim crosses and control his box, to leave his line, or to play the ball out from the back.
Just from watching United’s performances this season, De Gea has visibly improved. He is more confident on the ball and is leaving his line more frequently. This is also backed up by the numbers.
Already this season David de Gea has left his line to prevent eight crosses, during the first 14 games of the season, per FBRef.
This is the same number of crosses he cut out in 38 Premier League games during the 2021/22 season.
He has left his line to successfully ‘sweep’ in 0.86 games this season. This is an increase on 0.66 from last season – and also higher than Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Ten Hag has sought to simplify De Gea’s game. He is launching 71 per cent of his goal kicks upfield, up from 42 per cent last season.
This negates De Gea’s passing weakness, ensuring he is not asked to spend too much time attempting to link the play and build attacks.
He is able to focus more on his goalkeeping duties. Whether Ten Hag ultimately wants a goalkeeper who he can trust to pass from the back, we will see, but for now, the manager is working around De Gea, and he is getting the best out of him.
The results are impressive, De Gea has kept a succession of clean sheets this season, with five in the Premier League and a further four in the Europa League.
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