David de Gea has been a mainstay in the Manchester United goal for more than a decade, but his future at Old Trafford is now in the balance. On Sunday, he made a horrendous mistake to gift Said Benrahma a goal that proved to be the winner for West Ham, damaging the Red Devils’ hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four. This season, De Gea has made four errors leading to a goal in all competitions, the joint most of any Premier League player, along with Hugo Lloris. In February, De Gea said contract talks at Old Trafford would “end in a good way” and he was “enjoying it”, but for many fans and pundits this may be one mistake too many. Former Liverpool, Tottenham and Stoke striker Peter Crouch said: “He’s been a top-class goalkeeper over the years, but at the moment it feels like he’s making big errors in big, big games.” Former Newcastle and Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas was equally critical, saying: “That’s beyond shocking. His team is in full control of this game and to let one in like that. He’ll know himself.” Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand added: “It’s a bad mistake. He will take full responsibility for that.”
Despite his mistakes, there is no doubting De Gea’s pedigree. He has made more than 500 United appearances since arriving from Atletico Madrid in 2011, winning the club’s player of the year award four times and lifting the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League trophies. Manager Erik ten Hag leapt to the player’s defence, pointing out that he is in contention for the Premier League Golden Glove after keeping 15 clean sheets so far this season – two more than anybody else. However, mistakes like Sunday are unlikely to help negotiations and leave Ten Hag with a decision to make. Ferdinand believes it is De Gea’s ability with his feet rather than any issue with his shot-stopping that may prompt Ten Hag to make a change. Crouch added: “It’s a strange one, because he’s conceded goals from his own mistakes but he’s also kept the most clean sheets in the league.” Fans have expressed their opinion on De Gea’s performance this season, with Jonny saying: “Honestly do not know what has happened to De Gea this season. From a consistent Player of the Year contender to an even greater liability than Lloris in just one year. Renewing his contract now seems like one of the worst mistakes we could make.” Andrew said: “It really is time for United to move on from De Gea. His lack of quality distributing the ball is already at odds with what Ten Hag seems to want from his goalkeeper, and there are just too many errors in his game now.” Richard added: “In a game we have to win, De Gea is doing us no favours. Abysmal goalkeeping.” Seth commented: “When we say De Gea is not good enough, this is just an example. The number of errors he made over the last few years, especially under Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and now under Ten Hag is incredible. There is no way he should be a starter next season if we want to move forward.” Calum concluded: “Sadly there’s very little place for sentiment in sport if you’re looking to build a winning team, so it’s time for De Gea to go in my opinion.”