Have Man United made their David de Gea contract decision already?

David de Gea currently has just over two weeks left on his contract at Manchester United.

The goalkeeper’s deal runs out at the end of the month, and whilst he has a deal waiting to be signed off by the United board – they are still yet to sign it.

Mike McGrath of The Telegraph was the first to report on the fact that the framework of De Gea’s new deal, with a lower basic salary, was awaiting signing off by United. That information came on the 9 May, over one month ago.

Since then, we’ve heard similar information from elsewhere – that the deal has yet to be signed off – and also a barrage of links to goalkeepers across Europe, including Jordan Pickford, Diogo Costa and Andre Onana.

And although prior reports, and Ten Hag’s recent comments, have said that De Gea is not guaranteed a starting spot at Old Trafford next term, you’d struggle to find many reasons to keep him as a backup goalkeeper if United are to bring in quality such as Costa or Onana.

We’ve previously seen the disruptions that can be caused in these scenarios when Dean Henderson broke through into the team in 2020/21 – granted both goalkeepers mentioned are at a higher level than the Englishman, but the premise remains.

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Both United clearly looking into the market, not only for goalkeepers but for those regarded highly in Europe, and not having signed off De Gea’s new deal make the possibility of the Spaniard leaving on a free transfer at the end of the month seemingly more likely.

Fabrizio Romano has recently reported that clubs from Saudi Arabia are looking to tempt the United goalkeeper despite being aware of the verbal agreement in place – Alex Crook also mentioned that United’s no.1 was set to reject an offer from Saudi Arabia.

Of course, there is still a chance that De Gea does extend his stay at Old Trafford, but with the saga ongoing, and United clearly looking for goalkeepers elsewhere, it seems like United could go against signing off the contract and letting the goalkeeper walk at the end of his deal.