With Manchester United’s attempt to snatch away goalkeeper David De Gea from Atletico Madrid looking more and more like a done deal, fans seem to be split over whether it’s a positive move or not for the club. For many he’s too young and inexperienced to replace a goalkeeper with the stature of Edwin Van der Sar. For others he’s a natural talent for whom age really isn’t an issue. But who’s in the right on this occasion?
Of course, if you come down on one side or the other, fans will accuse you of ‘not having watched him play enough’. Well, I’ve seen him in action a fair few times now and have no overriding anti-United agenda, so hopefully I can appeal to some degree of objectivity.
I agree that age shouldn’t really be an issue. Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas has been doing his thing since he was 18 and Arsenal’s Wojiech Szczesny is further evidence that for a goalkeeper, age shouldn’t hold one back. What differentiates these players from David De Gea is the price-tag. These players arrived at their clubs with nothing to prove; De Gea will arrive with a certain amount of expectation.
Buying a youngster with a large price-tag is always a risk, unless they’re a footballing savant like Lionel Messi but De Gea seems like nothing more than a talented keeper with a lot of potential.
There’s no doubt that David De Gea is a top keeper, hence his weighty price-tag (thought to be around £20-25m) but is he the best available option?
Nobody knows the importance of a top keeper better than Sir Alex Ferguson who spent years trying to replace Peter Schmeichel, but given that United need to spend big money on the midfield this summer, wasn’t there someone they could have brought in for cheaper?
I’m thinking Manchester City’s forgotten keeper Shay Given or Ranger’s top man Alan McGregor. In response to Shay Given you’ll probably tell me that he’s too rusty nowadays and that he doesn’t come out for crosses. I just don’t buy that that’s something that United’s coaches couldn’t work with him on. What’s more, De Gea seems to have his own problems when it comes to crosses.
A little while ago there was a debate over whether Manchester United should go after De Gea or Schalke’s Manuel Neuer. I sided with Neuer because I viewed him as more of a leader (in the Jens Lehmann mould) than De Gea, who I just can’t picture marshalling the United defence with the same amount of confidence.
People soon went off of Neuer after his performance in the second leg of the Manchester United v Schalke Champion’s League tie, but I stand by my feeling that he’s a better man for the job.
David De Gea’s apparent strength is his shot-stopping. So why is it that he’s conceded the most goals from outside the 18-yard box in La Liga this season? Obviously with a better defence in front of him this kind of thing would decrease, but it’s still a worrying statistic. The fact that there’s all this debate over whether or not he’s a good signing strikes me as evidence that the club are taking something of a gamble.
Still, Sir Alex Ferguson has been doing his homework on De Gea for quite some time and there’s a wealth of good feeling around Old Trafford that I’d have to be a miser to attempt to dampen. If De Gea ends up at United I wish him well but I maintain my reservations.
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