Manchester United enter transfer race for goalkeeper as pressure mounts on David de Gea

Lately, David de Gea has been constantly involved in transfer speculation that he could depart Manchester United. The latest development comes after his mistake in the FA Cup final when he failed to keep out Ilkay Gundogan’s second-half volley, although he got a hand to the ball.

During the 2022-23 season, De Gea made other major mistakes too, against Brentford, West Ham and Sevilla. Also reportedly, De Gea hasn’t yet accepted United’s new contract offer which has made the club show interest in Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa.

The Portugal international has already been linked to Newcastle United and Chelsea. If United managed to acquire Costa, then there would be a huge question mark over De Gea’s status as first-choice goalkeeper.

Although the Spaniard received the Golden Glove award for the 2022-23 Premier League season, Erik ten Hag prefers a goalkeeper who can play out from the back. Speaking after the FA Cup final, Ten Hag said, “In this moment, I don’t want to talk about such issues of criticism because we all played a great season – including David de Gea. He played a fantastic season.”

When asked about De Gea’s weakness in distribution, the Dutchman said, “Say it like this: we are in the right direction. But there are occasions in the game, issues in the game, we have to improve, definitely, if we want to make the next step and win trophies.”

Sharing his opinion on Gundogan’s brace, he stated, “here were two moments, there were dead balls – one at kick-off and one from a wide free-kick. They can’t be a goal. We have to be better organised there. As a team, we didn’t do the jobs we had to do. And if you want to win trophies, details in big games make the difference and it’s hard to accept but we have to.”