David De Gea had a relatively poor season. He managed 13 clean sheets in the Premier League and was joint third in the Golden Glove race. We conceded only 36 goals in 38 games in the Premier League with only Manchester City (35) and Liverpool (33) conceding less. However, he has made a lot of individual errors leading to goals which have seen us lose or draw games like Everton away or Chelsea in the semi-finals. De Gea hasn’t been the same as before and seems to be short on confidence of late and has lost that stamp of reliability. An analysis showed that he pulled off amazing saves and often keeps clean sheets when he’s tested a lot and there are a lot of shots on target for him to face. With the signings of Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, our defence has been far tighter and De Gea has been facing lesser shots on target. He gets caught off guard more often and ends up making mistakes. He also tends to concede goals in the first and last minutes of the game and closer to the half-time whistle. 

The main question here is, is he on the decline or will he be able to pull up his socks and return to his past-self?

We have to look at this objectively. The transfer window has been open for about a month. Manchester United need a centre-back, central midfielder, left-back, striker and a right-winger as a priority in order to be a force next season. Chelsea are reaching the levels of Liverpool and Manchester City with their new signings and United need a lot more squad depth to compete for the top spot in the Premier League. That said, the only position that United have great squad depth in is the goalkeeper’s position. If De Gea underperforms again, Sergio Romero can be called upon to start and he’s more than capable too. Dean Henderson who was exceptional for Sheffield is back with our squad now after ending his loan spell and will stay at United unless an exciting loan comes up for him. With signings needed in 5 positions, signing a goalkeeper is not a priority at the moment.

De Gea has been making errors of late, but he’s still a very good player and is good enough to play for a top team. I feel he should continue as a starter and if he does cost us games again, Sergio Romero should be given the nod and rotated with Dean Henderson if he stays at the club.