Manchester United set sights on surprising David de Gea replacement

David de Gea’s future at Manchester United has been a constantly whirling tornado of rumours for over eight years.

Starting in 2015, David de Gea looked set to leave Old Trafford for Real Madrid in a deal which consisted of around €30 million plus then-Real keeper Keylor Navas heading the other way. The move then fell through due to an alleged fax machine error in the final moments of the window, and De Gea has been at the club ever since.

However, in the last four seasons, there has been much debate as to if the Spaniard should still be the man between the sticks.

After a few world-class seasons between 2015-18, cracks started to appear in his performances, and many fans pointed to the theory that De Gea is only at his best when Manchester United have their backs against the wall, and cannot play a proactive style of possession-based football – a type of ball that many fans are calling for at Old Trafford.

Then came Dean Henderson, who under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer displaced De Gea as the ruling No.1 for a few months and performed very well. But after a bout of COVID and, according to Henderson himself, unkept promises, the young English keeper left on loan to Nottingham Forrest in the 2022 summer window in search of consistent game time.

And now, with David de Gea’s contract coming to a close in 2023, the club have seemingly identified his replacement.

Yann Sommer, who currently plies his trade for Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, has his contract expiring this coming summer and is available to sign a pre-contractual agreement from 1st January 2023.

According to ESPN, Erik ten Hag is looking to completely refresh his goalkeeping department, and Sommer is the man he is looking towards to Sommer as an option to replace David de Gea as the club’s new No.1.

With Martin Dubravka set to rejoin Newcastle United at the end of the season and Dean Henderson likely to leave the club permanently in the summer, United could be looking to add three new keepers.

They do currently hold an option to extend De Gea’s contract for a further season if they choose, but with negotiations yet to start over any sort of new deal for the Spanish keeper, it looks increasingly likely like David de Gea will be leaving the club in the summer.