Should De Gea be United GK next season?

David De Gea has been Manchester United’s number one keeper for 12 years and has solidified his place amongst the best goalies in Uniteds history alongside players like Edwin Van Der Sar and Peter Schmeichel. It wasn’t always perfect for De Gea, his first season at the club was difficult as he made countless errors, some of which cost Manchester United wins. Over time, he overcame his struggles and became an established first choice. De Gea’s hard work paid off when his side won the Premier League back in 2013, at the time nobody would’ve expected it to be the only title United would win in the following decade.

Manchester United great Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down as United manager after 27 years at the club. From that point on the Red Devils would struggle to get into the top four and keep a manager at the club for longer than two seasons. During a decade of pain and frustration, Manchester United’s star was always De Gea, who for most seasons, kept United in top-four races by making numerous world-class saves. Although United remains in a Premier League dryspell, they were able to win other trophies including multiple F.A. Cups, Carabao Cups, and even a Europa League trophy back in 2017.

De Gea played the best football of his career between 2015-2018 winning the Golden Glove award with 18 clean sheets in the 2017/18 Premier League season. It wasn’t until the new year rang for 2019 that De Gea fell off. His worst spell of form was between 2019-2021 costing United a lot of points. The issue was that De Gea would make a mistake in one game and then be world-class in the next. At any club, having an inconsistent goalie can be detrimental.

It got better for De Gea during the 2021/22 season. Without him, United would have easily ended outside the European spots. De Gea came alive last year and made plenty of game-saving stops to help United grind out wins and secure a fortunate sixth-place finish.. The 2022/23 season was undoubtedly De Gea’s best since 2018. Although the season started with two losses including a 4-0 win for Brentford which saw De Gea let a ball slip through his grasp and dribble into the back of the net, he did not let it faze him and went on to help United finish in the top four. The other notable mistake came in the match against West Ham away where they lost 1-0 due to a De Gea blunder, which almost cost them their top-four finish. De Gea also won the Golden Glove award for the first time since the 2017/18 season.

(Image via Eurosport)

An ongoing argument within the United fanbase is whether it’s time for the club to move away from De Gea and bring in a new goalie. The goalie position should not be changed when United still needs four or five new signings to improve other positions on the field. De Gea tends to make a mistake here and there, but at the end of the day he won the Golden Glove award at 32 making him one of the best keepers this season. United needs to spend their money where it is required, they need a new box-to-box midfielder to help Casemiro because Eriksen has been struggling in games since coming back from his ankle injury. Another position of need is striker, United desperately need a top-class number nine who can guarantee them 20 goals a season if they want to challenge for major trophies again. Finally, another defender is also needed for United because they only have one good back-up defender in case Raphael Varane or Lisandro Martinez get injured. When it comes down to it, De Gea is the least of Manchester United’s worries, and it would be better if they let De Gea stay as the first choice goalie for next season.