Should we renew De Gea's contract?

Renew?

  • Yes

  • No

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We should for at least another year. Henderson and the likes are just mediocre players that will not even be on par with him. Considering how the other lines on the pitch are in desperate need of an overhaul, unless someone is selling a star goalkeeper for 5ml - we should definitely hold on for another year or two. Just think about it:

We need at least 3-4 defenders, 3-4 midfielders and at least one striker.
 
I half agree with those who say that he isn't our biggest problem, and that we shouldn't prioritize bringing in a new GK over a CF or a CM or even a CB.

The problem for me is that I simply don't trust United to offer him a sensible contract if he's not replaced this summer.

By sensible I mean a) huge pay cut, short duration. Why would he take that, you may ask? And the answer is: I have no idea, ask him. But if he doesn't fancy it, we should say ta and ta-ra.
 
If we let DeGea go we need to sign two keepers or at least a loan. This is why I offer him a shorter term deal on reduced wages. Let him fight it out for a season or so with a new signing, no guarantees a new signing can hand le the pressure on being our number one.

DeGea is still a quality keeper despite the mistakes and lack of quality with the ball at his feet. Even on his wages a loan signing and wages doesnt make a huge saving I expect. Keep him
 
Limited players at both ends of the pitch is really hurting us. I don't know how it will turn out if we get a keeper with not as good shot stopping skills, but someone who can find a pass and can command the box during set-pieces. I'm assuming it's going to be a net positive.
 
Hard question. We desperately need a new GK that fits with the style of play. But there are other positions in an even more desperate state. We just don't have the money. Maybe if we can pry Raya away on the cheap side...
 
AlPistacho said:
I agree.. but playing out from the back/sweeping only helps a team that can keep possession. It’s starts with the 10 outfield players, the keeper is the last past.
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Yes and no. The keeper does ultimately have the least amount of impact of all the players, but it's still a fairly significant impact. Watch how possession-based teams actively use their keeper to create a situation that they have numerical advantage, which makes it much easier to then progress the ball.

We saw it with Brighton and Sanchez yesterday. There were numerous times that Sanchez was quite obviously trying to get one of our players to push up and press him, which would instantly create extra space somewhere else on the field that Brighton quickly took advantage of to play into. Martial presses Sanchez, Bruno pushes up to cover one of the centrebacks, suddenly Brighton outnumber us in the middle of the park and Sanchez either plays a through ball directly there or to one of the open defenders who then passes it into the middle. Or out wide if the space is there. The best possession keepers actively invite pressure as they know the closer the player is to them the more space he's leaving behind. Obviously it will result in a mistake once in a blue moon, but the benefits of constantly getting those moments of numerical advantage multiple times every game over the course of the season should significantly outweigh that.

Meanwhile De Gea panics anytime theirs an opposition player remotely near him and just boots it straight to the other team. Hell, he'll regularly do it even without being put under pressure.
 
MadDogg said:
Yes and no. The keeper does ultimately have the least amount of impact of all the players, but it's still a fairly significant impact. Watch how possession-based teams actively use their keeper to create a situation that they have numerical advantage, which makes it much easier to then progress the ball.

We saw it with Brighton and Sanchez yesterday. There were numerous times that Sanchez was quite obviously trying to get one of our players to push up and press him, which would instantly create extra space somewhere else on the field that Brighton quickly took advantage of to play into. Martial presses Sanchez, Bruno pushes up to cover one of the centrebacks, suddenly Brighton outnumber us in the middle of the park and Sanchez either plays a through ball directly there or to one of the open defenders who then passes it into the middle. Or out wide if the space is there. The best possession keepers actively invite pressure as they know the closer the player is to them the more space he's leaving behind. Obviously it will result in a mistake once in a blue moon, but the benefits of constantly getting those moments of numerical advantage multiple times every game over the course of the season should significantly outweigh that.

Meanwhile De Gea panics anytime theirs an opposition player remotely near him and just boots it straight to the other team. Hell, he'll regularly do it even without being put under pressure.
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What you say is true. But imo for systems like City, Liverpool (not this year so much), Brighton, Arsenal etc to work the most important part is the 10 outfield players. ETH is sorting that. As we’ve seen and I don’t think he gets credit for Bruno has been much improved this year as a playmaker and less wasteful in possession. Maybe it’s down to ETH playing him deeper and in a position where he might have more time and space on the ball.

But we are still often wasteful in possession. If we had a board that would allow ETH to make system signings then yeah I’d be up for taking the gamble and replacing DDG. But as we’ve seen he’s not been allowed to sell AWB, who despite being hugely improved under ETH is not the ball playing type of RB ETH really wants.

Really you only get rid of a keeper like DDG if you have a board that 1) allow you to tailor your entire squad to the system 2) well let you get rid of the replacement keeper if it doesn’t work out. As we’ve seen keepers are often the hardest signings to get right.
 
AlPistacho said:
Voted yes.
We can probably get a keeper who does the ‘newly fashionable’ keeper stuff.. but will we get a keeper who is 10% the shot stopper he is?

People forget the problem that City had with Bravo and he replaced an inferior keeper to DDG in Joe Hart.

Also Allison and Ederson are not in the same class as shot stopper as DDG. I think with Liverpool struggling we see how much these keepers need to be in a dominating team.
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Do you even have the slightest idea how poor De Gea has been over not just one or two seasons but four or five seasons compared with the ones you mentioned like Ederson and Allison ?

He may save a few close range shots, but countless errors and inability to contribute to forward play is one of the reasons holding United back. For nearly 5 seasons now.

The problem is there were always other areas of greater concern and insufficient funds to replace the keeper during th transfer windows.
 
I cannot argue that DeGea makes some good saves, but then that is his job,
does he make saves that most other keepers would not? occasionally for sure,
does his poor footwork and throwing distribution put us under pressure? all the time,
does he fail to make or even attempt to make saves you would expect a top keeper to make? regularly
does his lack of command of the area weaken the defence leading to goals given away? regularly

DeGea's positioning (very deep, rarely away from his goal line) means that he has fractions more time to make saves, with his reactions this leads to him making some eye candy saves, however this is misleading, because his deep position also means that some shots often look unsaveable, where in actuality if he stood a pace or 2 further forward the angles would be cut down and the shot would be saveable, compare his positioning to other top drawer keepers past and present, do a bit of imaginary geometry and you will see.... next unsaveable goal we concede, imagine DeGea a pace closer to the striker and look again. That is if DeGea actually attempts the save anyway

I think DeGea's weakness of command of his area has a massive affect on the defence, in terms of the defenders knowing they are basically going to have to cover everything all the way back to the goal line, you stick an actual top goalkeeper in, instead of DeGea and even Maguire starts to look improved, because they are confident that if they get turned their GK is going to be there not stood like a statue on the goal line.

Having lived through some great, bad, mediocre and bizarre goal keepers, I would almost put DeGea in the bizarre category with Barthez, TBH I think I would rather have Barthez

Should we give DeGea a new contract, a big fat no for me, his weaknesses massively outweigh his qualities
 
If the final goes to pens, surely we got to sub him off and give either Heaton or Butland a chance? There's enough evidence by now that he's not going to make a difference at spot kicks.
 
Still a no for me. Even on half his current wages, it'd be too expensive.

People like to talk about his shot stopping ability, but just from the Brighton game alone, you can see there are keepers out there who can makes saves but still offer something with the ball at their feet. Sanchez's save from Rashford's deflected shot is something De Gea's people will say nobody else but the latter can do.
 
AlPistacho said:
Voted yes.
We can probably get a keeper who does the ‘newly fashionable’ keeper stuff.. but will we get a keeper who is 10% the shot stopper he is?

People forget the problem that City had with Bravo and he replaced an inferior keeper to DDG in Joe Hart.

Also Allison and Ederson are not in the same class as shot stopper as DDG. I think with Liverpool struggling we see how much these keepers need to be in a dominating team.
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Not to pick on any one post in particular, but I find it genuinely mad that there are people in 2023 who think Allison is not as good as De Gea at shot-stopping. He's miles better and has been pretty much since he came to the Premier League. It's not even a debate outside of United forums and fan accounts, tbh.

Everyone knows by now that Ederson is an average to barely-above-average shot-stopper with some glaring deficiencies. And even then, in the six seasons they've both been in the PL, he's marginally outperformed De Gea at shot-stopping three times.

Because, and this is the key thing a lot of people don't realize (and, to be quite honest, I think it's because the majority of fans just don't understand the goalkeeping position well enough) is that De Gea hasn't been an elite shot-stopper for five years now. It's not the "newly fashionable" stuff he struggles with - he's middle of the road at shot-stopping and woeful at everything else.
 
King Azaz the Unabridged said:
Not to pick on any one post in particular, but I find it genuinely mad that there are people in 2023 who think Allison is not as good at De Gea at shot-stopping. He's miles better and has been pretty much since he came to the Premier League. It's not even a debate outside of United forums and fan accounts, tbh.

Everyone knows by now that Ederson is an average to above-average shot-stopper with some glaring deficiencies. And even then, in the six seasons they've both been in the PL, he's marginally outperformed De Gea at shot-stopping three times.

Because, and this is the key thing a lot of people don't realize (and, to be quite honest, I think it's because the majority of fans just don't understand the goalkeeping position well enough) is that De Gea hasn't been an elite shot-stopper for five years now. It's not the "newly fashionable" stuff he struggles with - he's middle of the road at shot-stopping and woeful at everything else.
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This. I find it odd that after a game where De Gea makes a few routine saves and keeps a clean sheet, you see people saying "good luck finding a keeper who will save you as many points as De Gea has this season". Literally over half of the keepers in the Premier League are better than him at shot stopping these days. And almost all of them are better at commanding their area and distribution. De Gea is costing us points by being deficient in those attributes.
 
NinjaZombie said:
Still a no for me. Even on half his current wages, it'd be too expensive.

People like to talk about his shot stopping ability, but just from the Brighton game alone, you can see there are keepers out there who can makes saves but still offer something with the ball at their feet. Sanchez's save from Rashford's deflected shot is something De Gea's people will say nobody else but the latter can do.
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I don't think Sanchez is any better than De Gea in the game. He just passes the ball to the CB and the outfield players do the rest. When he takes long kick it often misses the target, just like De Gea.
 
If Erik fancies him to do the job going forward then he will be offered a new contract and if he does not then we will see a new face between the sticks next season.
It is not as if we are looking at a player that is not at the club and we have to see if he can adapt to everything and Erik has to then see if he is up to it or not as Erik has worked with big Dave and knows exactly what he is about.
When it comes to other players that we have brought to the club that Erik is familiar with we have relied on the judgement of Erik that they will come good so if he feels that Dave can make the adjustments to fit the way he wants the team to play then in Erik we need to trust.
 
Bondi77 said:
If Erik fancies him to do the job going forward then he will be offered a new contract and if he does not then we will see a new face between the sticks next season.
It is not as if we are looking at a player that is not at the club and we have to see if he can adapt to everything and Erik has to then see if he is up to it or not as Erik has worked with big Dave and knows exactly what he is about.
When it comes to other players that we have brought to the club that Erik is familiar with we have relied on the judgement of Erik that they will come good so if he feels that Dave can make the adjustments to fit the way he wants the team to play then in Erik we need to trust.
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Giving too much power to Managers when it comes to player recruitment and contract extensions is the reason why United find themselves with Such bloated and substandard squad .
Managers input should always be factored in but final decision should be taken by likes of Murtough and Co , it's his job and if he isn't upto it get somebody who is .
 
AlPistacho said:
What you say is true. But imo for systems like City, Liverpool (not this year so much), Brighton, Arsenal etc to work the most important part is the 10 outfield players. ETH is sorting that. As we’ve seen and I don’t think he gets credit for Bruno has been much improved this year as a playmaker and less wasteful in possession. Maybe it’s down to ETH playing him deeper and in a position where he might have more time and space on the ball.

But we are still often wasteful in possession. If we had a board that would allow ETH to make system signings then yeah I’d be up for taking the gamble and replacing DDG. But as we’ve seen he’s not been allowed to sell AWB, who despite being hugely improved under ETH is not the ball playing type of RB ETH really wants.

Really you only get rid of a keeper like DDG if you have a board that 1) allow you to tailor your entire squad to the system 2) well let you get rid of the replacement keeper if it doesn’t work out. As we’ve seen keepers are often the hardest signings to get right.
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It really understates the importance of goalkeeper in progressing the ball in first phase. It’s the main reason we have been always under the huge pressure when any opponent presses high against us. Putting Sanchez in our team. It will be day and night difference.
 
gajender said:
Giving too much power to Managers when it comes to player recruitment and contract extensions is the reason why United find themselves with Such bloated and substandard squad .
Managers input should always be factored in but final decision should be taken by likes of Murtough and Co , it's his job and if he isn't upto it get somebody who is .
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I do not see how it is bloated as we need a big squad to compete in all of the competitions that all the big clubs compete in.
I think when it comes to player recruitment that the club should make the manager fully aware of what the budget is for any window and then they need to know the positions the manager wants to strengthen in and how to balance that budget together so we do not get a case of spending 200mil on a winger, midfielder and a CB and then Erik saying that he needs a striker.
Of course we have to back the manager in what he wants at the club but the board have to have the final say in what is value and what is not.
Many moons ago Bobby Robson wanted Shearer at Barcelona but he could not have him and he had to take Ronaldo as second choice...not a bad second choice.
 
MADReaLJL said:
I don't think Sanchez is any better than De Gea in the game. He just passes the ball to the CB and the outfield players do the rest. When he takes long kick it often misses the target, just like De Gea.
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That's my point. Why should we pay him big wages to do what almost every other goalkeeper can do? Time to move on. Don't renew his contract.
 
Bondi77 said:
I do not see how it is bloated as we need a big squad to compete in all of the competitions that all the big clubs compete in.
I think when it comes to player recruitment that the club should make the manager fully aware of what the budget is for any window and then they need to know the positions the manager wants to strengthen in and how to balance that budget together so we do not get a case of spending 200mil on a winger, midfielder and a CB and then Erik saying that he needs a striker.
Of course we have to back the manager in what he wants at the club but the board have to have the final say in what is value and what is not.
Many moons ago Bobby Robson wanted Shearer at Barcelona but he could not have him and he had to take Ronaldo as second choice...not a bad second choice.
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That's exactly my point about De Gea's extension Ten Hag may be happy to work with him despite his limitations , but his contract is up and it seems he still wants pretty high wages relative to his quality frankly speaking he is a average keeper.

Now if due to Ten Hag insistence and our other priorities we end up caving in and giving him let's say 200 k a week wages for Next 3 years what happens then do we persist with him for whole duration of his contract or have another average player on big wages as back up when we do have funds to replace him .
 
I've previously been on the 'keep him for another year train' because we have so many other areas to bolster. However having seen De Gea over recent weeks it's clear to me replacing him is as high a priority as a striker.

I don't know who or how we replace him this summer but if we seriously want to compete at the top level we need a goalkeeper who can play the way ETH wants. He cannot help us in possession, he cannot command his area, he cannot save a penalty. He's been a good servant and had a couple of years where his shot stopping was arguably the best in the world, however those days are long gone and he needs to be let go.
 
gajender said:
That's exactly my point about De Gea's extension Ten Hag may be happy to work with him despite his limitations , but his contract is up and it seems he still wants pretty high wages relative to his quality frankly speaking he is a average keeper.

Now if due to Ten Hag insistence and our other priorities we end up caving in and giving him let's say 200 k a week wages for Next 3 years what happens then do we persist with him for whole duration of his contract or have another average player on big wages as back up when we do have funds to replace him .
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Well let us say then that he gets those numbers then and that is around 10mil a year for three years.
What is it going to cost to bring in a new keeper for a transfer fee and then pay his wages for the next five years as I have seen fees of 50mil mentioned.
Big Dave is not an average keeper by any stretch of the imagination as evidenced by the amount of times he has saved us in games or by being voted the best player at the club on numerous occasions.
Guys like Raya and Sanchez are no better than De Gea so from a financial perspective it would make sense to get him on a 3yr deal on 200k a week but of course that should be if Erik feels that he has it in him to improve other aspects of his game.
 
Jund said:
We need at least 3-4 defenders, 3-4 midfielders and at least one striker.
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No we don’t. More like one defender and two midfielders.

CB: Lisandro, Varane, ”Timber”, Lindelöf (Shaw)
RB: Awb, Dalot
LB: Shaw, Malacia (Dalot)

CM: Casemiro, Eriksen, Fred, ”Lavia”, Bruno, Mainoo
CAM: Bruno, X, Eriksen, Diallo?

A striker and goalie should be our top priorities.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Reports coming that the extension is close. Unacceptable, and a serious mistake from ETH even if it's on reduced wages. De Gea is a poor keeper and even worse for any team looking to control possession and dominate matches.
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If ETH wants him to extend it'll be less clear he does want to control possession and dominate matches
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Reports coming that the extension is close. Unacceptable, and a serious mistake from ETH even if it's on reduced wages. De Gea is a poor keeper and even worse for any team looking to control possession and dominate matches.
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I think it’s been clear for a long while this would happen. We’ve just been collectively in denial hoping the club and the manager would show sense for once
 
Svartzonker said:
No we don’t. More like one defender and two midfielders.

CB: Lisandro, Varane, ”Timber”, Lindelöf (Shaw)
RB: Awb, Dalot
LB: Shaw, Malacia (Dalot)

CM: Casemiro, Eriksen, Fred, ”Lavia”, Bruno, Mainoo
CAM: Bruno, X, Eriksen, Diallo?

A striker and goalie should be our top priorities.
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Not going to agree that 8 defenders are enough for a whole season. You need at least 10. Let's say that 6 midfielders are enough. That means 2 defenders and 2 midfielders, add to that at least 1 striker.

That's a lot of money, I don't see us spending north of 200 million this summer.
 
Bit of a kick in the nuts for next season if the above is true about a renewal being imminent. Hard to imagine De Gea being part of a title winning team at this point. He's so scatty and unassertive.
 
I'm all for DDG getting a new contract albeit I do know his time is coming to an end as well.

We should get that young Irish keeper at Southampton Bazunu in and he should be cheap as well. Phase him in and DDG out over a couple of seasons. He looks a prospect
 
Steve Bruce said:
I'm all for DDG getting a new contract albeit I do know his time is coming to an end as well.

We should get that young Irish keeper at Southampton Bazunu in and he should be cheap as well. Phase him in and DDG out over a couple of seasons. He looks a prospect
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Bazunu has had an awful season. He needs to prove he's good enough for Southampton first.
 
sullydnl said:
Bazunu has had an awful season. He needs to prove he's good enough for Southampton first.
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He's in an awful side. I've seen a few games this season and he played well and he was good last season. But saying that if you've seen him all season and he's been rubbish most of the time fair enough, I've only seen a few games and he performed well.
 
city-puma said:
It really understates the importance of goalkeeper in progressing the ball in first phase. It’s the main reason we have been always under the huge pressure when any opponent presses high against us. Putting Sanchez in our team. It will be day and night difference.
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I’ll prove my point about the 10 outfield players.
 
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