A huge development was made in the Manchester United goalkeeping saga after the club left David De Gea out of their “retained list” of players who are under contract with the club.
The club did also mention that discussions over a new contract with De Gea remained open as his current deal is set to expire. All reports suggested that United were confident that the Spaniard will sign a new deal on a lower salary but that apparently is not the case anymore.
News outlet The Mirror reported that United have started to grow worried about De Gea signing the new contract and are now expecting the club legend to leave the club on a free.
This came as a huge surprise to many as even manager Erik Ten Hag stated after the end of the season that he expects De Gea to renew his contract.
The club now believe that the shot-stopper may choose to leave the club amid interest from Saudi Arabia. It is being suggested that the player’s camp is not willing to accept a huge pay cut and seems to have an offer from a Saudi club at the table that interests them.
Fabrizio Romano maintained that new contract talks have been “almost agreed” since April but some financial details and, more recently, some approaches from the Saudi league may have halted talks.
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United were always looking to add a new goalkeeper to their squad this summer but it was expected to be an understudy to De Gea. But if the goalkeeper now decides to leave the club, the Red Devils will have to invest heavily in signing a strong first-choice keeper.
Andre Onana and Diogo Costa are the two most prominent names that are being linked to United but both of them would cost around £50 million, which would force the club to rethink their whole transfer strategy.
It was widely reported that United will be working with a very limited budget this transfer window as they need to stay within FFP guidelines after overspending last summer. The uncertainty over the ownership of the club has also affected the overall budget.
The priority with a limited budget was a striker and a midfielder for Erik Ten Hag but if De Gea is to leave, a new goalkeeper may become the biggest priority.
The Spanish international has been at United for over a decade and has won numerous Player of the Season awards for the club. He holds the record for the most clean sheets in the club’s history and also just won his second Premier League Golden Glove in the 2022/23 season. It may be time to bid farewell to a legend at Old Trafford.
