Rio, Crouch fear for the future of Man Utd star as worrying trend continues – ‘He’s making big errors’

Jason Soutar
Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch and Gianfranco Zola during punditry for BT Sport at Anfield

Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch have both questioned David De Gea’s future at Manchester United following his costly error in Sunday’s 1-0 loss at West Ham.

The Spanish goalkeeper made a huge mistake for Said Benrahma’s winner, failing to stop what looked like a tame effort from the Hammers winger.

This is not the first time De Gea has made a costly error this season.

He played a huge part in United’s failure to get past Sevilla in the Europa League, putting in a very poor display in the 3-0 second-leg defeat.

De Gea’s ability with the ball at his feet is often called into question, with Erik ten Hag eager to play out from the back, which is difficult with the 32-year-old between the sticks.

Despite this, the Dutch manager wants to extend De Gea’s contract – on a lower salary than what the goalkeeper earns at this moment in time, to be fair.

Following the 1-0 defeat at West Ham, Ten Hag insisted that he still hopes De Gea signs a new deal.

“(De Gea) has the most clean sheets in the Premier League, we would not be in this position without him,” he said after the game.

“No concerns. It happens but as a team you have to deal with it, show character and resilience.

“We want him to stay and to extend his contract.”

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The former Ajax boss is obviously going to jump to the defence of his goalkeeper and is hardly going to come out and say he doesn’t want to keep him anymore.

Saying that, United legend Rio Ferdinand has questioned if De Gea is good enough to play out from the back and does not think we will know how Ten Hag truly thinks until the end of the season.

“The question mark about him I think is whether he’s good enough with his feet to play the Erik ten Hag way,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“In terms of shot-stopping, he’s made a mistake today but that’s not the area I question him. Is he a good enough footballer to play for Manchester United?

“The only person that can answer that is Erik ten Hag and we’ll know at the end of this season.”

Ferdinand’s former England teammate, Peter Crouch, added that a mistake like the one he made at the London Stadium will do him no favours as he negotiates a new contract.

He said: “It’s a strange one, because he’s conceded goals from his own mistakes but he’s also kept the most clean sheets in the league.

“If he’s in contract negotiations making mistakes like that is never going to help.

“He’s been a top-class goalkeeper over the years, but at the moment it feels like he’s making big errors in big, big games.”

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