Manchester United’s goalkeeping scout Tony Coton admits he has no idea if David de Gea will stay or go this summer as his contract at the Premier League giants enters it’s final week.
You might have noticed a certain Twitter account doing the rounds of late. One counting down the days until David de Gea becomes a free-agent by posting a video of a different mistake every 24 hours, like some grim version of the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’.
Rightly or wrongly, this sums up the view many Manchester United fans have of a man who’s status as a club ‘legend’ continues to be the subject of much online debate. It’s not too long ago that De Gea was being named Man United’s Player of the Year for a third season in a row. But have a series of high-profile mistakes – including the sort of spill that had Massimo Taibi ran out of town by a pithfork-wielding mob – forever tainted De Gea’s reputation?
That, perhaps, is a question for a different day.
For now, the focus is on whether or not the 32-year-old’s more-than-decade long spell as the Red Devils number one is coming to an end; his contract expiring next week and an extension yet to be rubber-stamped.
Tony Coton, Man United’s goalkeeping coach, is as much in the dark as the rest of us.
David de Gea faces crucial week in Man United future
“He’s been one of the most consistent goalkeepers around the world, really. Not just in Europe or the Premier League. And what’s he done for the club… a great servant,” Coton tells Sky Sports.
“I don’t know, at this moment in time, where we stand with his contract. I don’t know if he’s signing a new contract, I really don’t know. I’m not privy to that at the moment.”
“But we have been linked with a lot of goalkeepers.”
You can say that again. Diogo Costa, Bart Verbruggen, Jordan Pickford and Andre Onana are just four of the names reportedly in the frame to take De Gea’s place, with the latter now seemingly the most likely acquisition.
Onana’s agent was reportedly in Manchester last week (Gianluca di Marzio). Cash-strapped Inter Milan may be forced to accept a bargain fee of just £42 million.
“Speculation in the press, you can’t hide that,” Coton adds. “We get linked with a lot of players who we don’t get. We get linked with players we’re not even interested in, you know. It goes with the territory.
“So we’ve just got to watch this space really to see what happens with David. And where we go on the goalkeeping front.”
There are reportedly Saudi Arabian clubs willing to offer De Gea a pay rise in the Middle East. And that’s saying something, given that he earns £375,000-a-week currently at Old Trafford.
De Gea joined United from Atletico Madrid back in 2011 for around £19 million.
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