Manchester United are confident that goalkeeper David De Gea will put pen to paper on a new five-year contract that will see him stay at the Red Devils until 2023.
At International youth level De Gea lifted the under-17 European Championships in 2007 as well as the under-21 European Championships in both 2011 and 2013. The now 27-year-old is looking to add the World Cup to his collection this summer with Spain currently 11/2 to claim the coveted trophy. The goalkeeper was the only player of Spain’s 2014 squad to not feature in the last World Cup where La Roja were eliminated in the group stage. De Gea went to the tournament as a third choice keeper behind Iker Casillas and Pepe Reina but was seen as the long term replacement for Casillas, a Spanish and Real Madrid mainstay. Two years later and the tide had turned, Euro 2016 acting as a changing of the Spanish guard. San Iker, so called for his heroics in between the sticks, was playing as back up to De Gea and failed to make an appearance at the tournament.
In Spain’s penultimate warm up game they dominated possession, recycling the ball in midfield it seemed that nothing was going to stop them from beating the Swiss. Spain may have lacked a bit of urgency but deserved to win. A De Gea fumble straight into the path of left-back Ricardo Rodriguez meant the Swiss had snatched a draw from the jaws of certain defeat. De Gea is reported to have told Spanish media outlet AS “It’s [the official World Cup ball] really strange. It could have been made a lot better.” The Spaniard wasn’t the only high profile keeper to have criticised the Adidas made ball but he has, so far, been the only one to make a glaring error of judgement, seeing Ronaldo’s second goal come right towards him but strike his legs before crossing the line.
De Gea has the backing of the national manager but can he lift his head and put in the performances seen at club level? Speaking to Goal, defender Nacho who scored against Portugal said “He is a world-class goalkeeper and we are lucky to have a player of his calibre. He has no doubts about his own ability and he will bring a lot to the team in the future.” Manchester United fans already know this and will be ecstatic if this contract news is to be true. A firm fan favourite, Jose Mourinho tempting his star goal keeper to stay at Old Trafford is a huge boost to Manchester United’s title challenge next season.