On a day when Manchester United huffed and puffed to a dour 0-0 draw at Aston Villa which failed to ease the pressure on Erik ten Hag, a former favourite had the game of his life.
The days of Manchester United being the peak of a player’s career, especially in English football, are long gone but the players doing better after leaving is becoming a phenomenon.
Of course, sometimes a change of surroundings is all it takes to get going but if it happens with every other player, the club they’re leaving needs to look at itself.
That is the situation Man United find themselves in as even the most marginalised player, say, someone like Donny van de Beek, has rediscovered himself after leaving Old Trafford.
Even better than Van de Beek has been a player who didn’t have his contract extended, left on a free transfer, and football almost passed him by.
In a sensational comeback story, he has been deemed a “monster” after his latest stunning display.
David de Gea’s comeback story
Left on a free transfer after Man United didn’t extend his contract, fell out of football for a whole season as teams stayed away or he stayed away from a certain caliber of team, ultimately ending up at a level below the elite at Fiorentina.
De Gea’s move to Fiorentina gathered eyeballs only because he was a former United player because many had written him off.
He had left United as a Golden Glove winner but a couple of high-profile errors, combined with his lack of comfort with the ball had people casting him as a relic in modern football.
Three months into his career in Italy, those doubters had been silenced to an extent but lingering doubts remained.
Until this weekend, when he rolled back the years to effectively win his team a game single-handedly against marquee opposition.
The Spaniard saved two penalties against AC Milan to give his team a 2-1 win in the biggest display of his qualities so far in Italy.
It had Man Utd fans in disbelief, as saving penalties was never really his forte at United but that pretty much sums up the state of affairs at Old Trafford right now…
After the game, he became the toast of Fiorentina, so much so that manager Raffaele Palladino set aside the usual media-trained responses to one side to launch an extraordinary praise for his goalkeeper.
He said: “Trust me, he’s still a monster. He’s a top, world-class player. We can see why he’s a champion, a real one. We should thank him every day, he’s a top goalkeeper and a role model.”
Perspective at Man Utd
Regardless of how well De Gea is doing at Fiorentina, it is worth noting that Andre Onana, his replacement at United, has been up to the mark recently.
Two things can be true at once- De Gea was on the slide downwards when he left United and it was the right decision to let him go, and he is impressing at Fiorentina for which credit is due.
It doesn’t mean United made a mistake and they shouldn’t have signed Andre Onana, who is five years younger and has a wider skill set.
United ultimately have to create a squad with a long-term outlook as well and De Gea would have needed replacing in a year or two anyway even if United dragged it and gave him an extension.
If anything, joining Fiorentina instead of a bonafide elite club says it all about the player’s standing in world football.
He is definitely rolling back the years and telling the football world he’s far from finished, but leaving United and the club letting him go was the right decision for everyone.
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