David De Gea, for years after he signed from Atlético Madrid, was Manchester United’s undisputed No. 1 goalkeeper. Dean Henderson has changed that.

Peter Schmeichel, the legendary Manchester United goalkeeper, knows greatness. He once declared “I admire David de Gea. I cannot remember anyone coming into Manchester United and being criticised the way he was. He was the subject of every debate in the media. You haven’t seen De Gea defend himself in the media or shifting the blame elsewhere. He just gets on with it.” It is safe to say that Schmeichel is an expert in the art of goalkeeping, and such high praise should say enough about the player David De Gea is. And yet Manchester United fans have had to live with the sad realisation that we have probably seen the best of De Gea.

The decline in the goalkeeper’s game has been sharp, and he has lost his No. 1 position for both club and country. The challenger for the No. 1 goalkeeper position is Manchester United Academy graduate, Dean Henderson. Reports indicate that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has decided to go with Henderson as United’s No.1 for next season. Other reports indicate that De Gea would not go down without fighting, and was more than happy to fight for his place as United’s No. 1 goalkeeper.

The issue at hand

Solskjaer has to figure out this goalkeeping issue and soon. Last season, De Gea started 26 of 38 Premier League matches, keeping 9 clean sheets. He conceded 32 goals, and won only 12 games. To put this into perspective, the season he won the Premier League Golden Glove (2017/2018), De Gea played 37 of 38 matches. During that time, he kept 18 clean sheets and only conceded 18 goals. De Gea is past his best, and while it is a painful pill to swallow, Solskjaer should go with Henderson. However, while I will advocate for Dean Henderson to take his place, I will not be using this as an attack on De Gea.

While there have been errors in recent memory, no one can dispute that De Gea deserves some more respect. He may have made some mistakes, but at the end of the day, he is one of the longest-serving United players that we have on the squad. Not only that, for several years in the post-SAF era, he was our best player. Even with his failed Real Madrid move in 2015, De Gea has been respectful to the club. He has never spoken out about it or allowed his agent to do so. So Paul, please tell Mino no one in Manchester cares what he says and that he’s an idiot.

So while it is frustrating to watch, and it will be interesting to see who Solskjaer chooses for his big games, we should not slander De Gea or Henderson. At the end of the day, they both play for United and that is all that should mattter.