David de Gea has played in every one of Manchester United’s league games this season, been voted the club’s best player by his team mates and will be offered a huge contract renewal this summer - yet he is still expected to leave the club.
When he was forced off of the pitch last Sunday due to a hamstring injury, the Spaniard appeared to be waving a final goodbye to supporters who sang his name and are desperate for him to stay.
But unfortunately the call of Spain’s top two teams routinely robs the Premier League of some of its best talents. In De Gea’s case it is Real Madrid who have enticed him with the promise of first team football and almost trophies on a yearly basis.
Considering he was born in the Spanish capital, though grew up an Atletico Madrid supporter, it seems like he is destined to end up playing for the ten times Champions League winners, but why does it have to be so soon?
United will have to replace the 24-year-old this summer and these goalkeepers should be top of the list...
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Petr Cech
Now it isn’t normal for United to take on Chelsea’s unwanted players but the signing of Juan Mata has proven that it can turn out quite well. Cech is expected to leave Stamford Bridge as he wants to come out from under Thibaut Courtois’ shadow and regain his number one status.
The 33-year-old is still very sharp in goal and having played in the Premier League for the past 11 years would be ready to go immediately. He’ll know what players to watch out for and which way penalties are taken without needing to be brought up to speed.
The Blues were happy to sell Mata to United only because manager Jose Mourinho didn’t have any use for him, while you get the impression that given the choice he’d like Cech to stay on as Chelsea’s second-choice keeper in case Courtois cannot play.
He is still world-class and with his experience at both domestic and international level, Cech does seem like the next best thing to actually keeping De Gea.
Victor Valdes
The ex-Barcelona stopper spent the last five months waiting for his first-team chance and then when he does finally get his moment in the sun he concedes within eight minutes.
Those unfamiliar with his 12 senior years at Barca may think Valdes is not the right man to take over from De Gea, but they’d be wrong. Valdes has won numerous trophies with Barcelona and was their number one during a time that many consider to be a golden era of European football.
The 33-year-old joined up with United in October following a knee injury and has been recovering under the club’s guidance. Now to give the keeper all of that support if they didn’t consider him good enough to play for the first-team would be a massive waste of time, so perhaps the De Gea situation will force United to make the three-times Champions League winner their main man between the sticks.
Jasper Cillessen
Since his arrival last summer manager Louis van Gaal has been linked with numerous Dutch players and has already signed PSV’s Memphis Depay so it would come as no surprise if Holland keeper Jasper Cillessen finds his way to Old Trafford.
The pair worked together during last year’s World Cup so a good working relationship has already been established and could help clinch the deal. The only sticking point is that the 26-year-old’s employers Ajax have already warned United off of poaching the player but when has that ever stopped a deal going through.
Van Gaal obviously admires the keeper very much as Cillessen started every match in Brazil, and with a £25million price tag then the next step is just to convince the player to push through a move to the red side of Manchester.