Man United: Henderson return 'depends on De Gea' says pundit
Manchester United will keep David De Gea as their No 1 next season despite Dean Henderson shining for Sheffield United, reports say. De Gea has struggled for consistency this season, making many big errors amid a mixed campaign under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But the Norwegian, it seems, is determined to keep faith with the Spain international.
De Gea’s position as United’s No 1 is under threat from Henderson, who has sparkled on loan at Sheffield United.
The 23-year-old has been in remarkable form over at Bramall Lane, keeping 10 clean sheets - the same amount as Liverpool’s Alisson Becker and Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel.
However, despite that, ESPN claim United will be keeping faith with De Gea next season.
The Spain international has been erratic this term, making big errors against the likes of Arsenal, Watford and Everton.
He has, though, been one of United’s most-consistent performers in the seven years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
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“Well, United have very good goalkeepers,” he told MUTV.
“De Gea is fantastic – he has shown that he is one of the best goalkeepers in England. Not only for one year, but for the last couple of years.
“Last season he made a couple of mistakes, but that’s normal. He’s a human being, and if I look back at when I was at Manchester United, when I first saw Peter Schmeichel I thought he would never make a mistake.
“But then during the Treble season he had a bad spell and you wonder how that is possible.
“De Gea is fantastic, but he can make mistakes. So do all top players!
“Fantastic players are always looking over their shoulders and if they make a mistake people say they’re not as good anymore.
“This is ridiculous because they are human beings. For a goalkeeper, you have to be stable and if you make a mistake, make sure next time you are in the right place so you can stop the ball.”
Van der Gout also thinks De Gea has to up his game amid competition from Henderson, saying: “You have to deal with the competition. In my situation that was with Mark Bosnich.
“There was a new goalkeeper, but I thought this could be my chance. Peter was the no.1, but Mark was going to have to show it.
“I gave myself a chance and I was lucky because Mark Bosnich wasn’t really fit, he had a lot of injuries and I took my chance. When I look back, I played a lot of matches and I think that season [1999/00] I was probably No.1.”