David De Gea’s status as a Manchester United favourite is assured after 12 years at the club but it is not just his age, his contract demands and the doubts over his form that explain his exit. It is the challenge of adjusting to the changing role of the goalkeeper.
De Gea boasts an enviable highlight reel – his famous performance against Arsenal in 2017 alone is impressive enough. As the last line in an often porous defence, there were times when his nimble frame was all that stood between United and humiliation.
He won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for a record fourth time that season. The expected-goals data showed that he prevented 13.7 goals – perhaps the difference between finishing second and missing out on Champions League football entirely.
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But that was five years ago now.
Since then, there have been many spectacular saves but his record is more middling. De Gea has conceded more goals than expected from the shots faced in the majority of the last five seasons. Not great for someone whose shot-stopping was his standout quality.
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The recent mistake against West Ham was inexplicable, the failure to keep out Ilkay Gundogan’s FA Cup final winner more costly. Goalkeeping analyst John Harrison claims that shot would have been saved by Premier League goalkeepers 81 per cent of the time.
Erik ten Hag always maintained that there was an appetite on both sides for De Gea to stay and given the problems the Dutchman had to navigate at Old Trafford during his first season it is understandable he prioritised change in other positions.
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But is it no great surprise that he regards this switch as an opportunity. Andre Onana epitomises everything that De Gea is not.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper earned praise from Pep Guardiola before the Champions League final. “Onana makes it really difficult to deploy a high press against,” said the Manchester City head coach. “You cannot press the goalkeeper properly.” He cited it as the key difference between facing Inter in Istanbul and United at Wembley.
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Dutch football journalist Marcel van der Kraan talks about the quality of Andre Onana
It is the ability with the ball at his feet that offers the greatest contrast. It is why it was not so much De Gea’s fumble at Brentford in that first away game of Ten Hag’s reign that was such a cause for concern but his tentative use of the ball that afternoon.
It soon forced Ten Hag to compromise his approach. De Gea sent 48 per cent of his passes long last season – far more than Ederson at Manchester City or Alisson at Liverpool. The United boss found a way to make it work because of the limitations of his goalkeeper.
Now he can revert to his preferred style.
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United We Stand editor Andy Mitten shares his thoughts on David De Gea’s exit
Fellow Dutchman and former Manchester United goalkeeper coach Frans Hoek once argued that all goalkeepers fall into one of two categories. Regardless of ability, they are either A-type or R-type goalkeepers – those who anticipate and those who react.
De Gea was among the very best within the latter group but the trend is towards favouring the former. Speaking to Hoek about this in 2020, he explained: “The demands of the game change what we want from a goalkeeper. So how are we going to integrate that?”
Hoek was De Gea’s goalkeeper coach at United for two seasons and tried to help him evolve his game, becoming a little more comfortable with the ball at his feet by involving him more both in and out of possession. He experienced significant resistance to this change.
“During my 12 years at Ajax it was maybe 50-50 between isolated and integrated training,” Hoek told Sky Sports. “I still believed then that isolated training was important. I kept it like that for a while until it became maybe 70-30 in favour of integrated.
“At Manchester United, it was maybe 80 to 90 per cent with the team and only 10 to 20 per cent without the rest of the team. I can tell you that the goalkeepers did not like that.
“It was completely different to what they were used to. I was very stubborn because for me there was only one thing that counted – progression in the game. The problem was that isolated practice was not improving them. In fact, it was even making them worse.”
Even now, De Gea prefers to rely on his reflexes. He remains happier on his line and not just when crosses are coming into the box. His 11 accurate ‘keeper sweepings were the fewest of the 13 goalkeepers to make 30 Premier League appearances last season.
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With retention of possession more important than ever to the top teams, coming off the line is not just about sweeping it is about joining the defence to be part of an effective build-up play. Doing this allows a defender to step up, creating overloads elsewhere.
For Onana, this is an obvious strength. For De Gea, according to Second Spectrum data, he ranked outside the top 20 goalkeepers in the Premier League last season for passes completed above expectation given the options that were available to him.
Brighton’s Jason Steele topped that list. Now 32, much of Steele’s career has been in the Championship. Roberto De Zerbi preferring him to Spain international Robert Sanchez makes him a symbol of the shifting priorities of the modern Premier League coach.
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Onana’s arrival opens up the possibilities for United. There will be awkward moments, of course, mistakes that will encourage the idea that a more risk-free approach makes sense. But expect United’s build-up to look more similar to the most successful sides.
The tactics that Guardiola described as long ball can evolve. It will be closer to Ten Hag’s style, closer to the style that has become de rigueur in the modern game. For all the fond memories at Old Trafford, it is a style that is more Andre Onana than David de Gea.
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