MANCHESTER UNITED are set to have a mammoth decision to contend with over the summer… David De Gea or Dean Henderson?
The England youth international will not want to sit on the bench after excelling in his debut Premier League season on loan at Sheffield United.
While De Gea, 29, is a senior member of the dressing room and United’s top earner after years of top service.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has thrown his weight behind the Spaniard, who will keep the No1 jersey for the rest of the campaign despite failing to deal with Steven Bergwijn’s powerful effort at Tottenham.
The Red Devils manager stated on Tuesday: “David is the best goalkeeper in the world.
“He’s conceded two goals in the last seven he’s played for us. City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton, two goals in seven games.
“The Everton one is a freak one, this one he can’t save it, he makes great saves, wins games for us and he’s still the best goalkeeper in the world. David is working really hard, he isn’t making errors in training. I’m pleased with his work.
“He’s had some fantastic seasons and I don’t think it’s a bad run if you concede two goals in seven games, he’s made match-winning saves.
“He saved a point for us against Tottenham with the save [from Son Heung-min], mentally he’s a very strong keeper but I speak to him every day, that’s fine.”
Statistically speaking, De Gea has experienced a significant decline over the past couple of years.
A tally of seven mistakes leading to goals ranks among the worst shot-stoppers in the division.
With 10 clean sheets to Henderson’s 12 and 34 goals conceded to 27, he appears set up to lose this impending Old Trafford battle.
But with 2.9 saves per game to 2.6, the Sheffield United ace is certainly the busier goalkeeper and denies his opponents 76 per cent of the time, compared to 71 per cent for De Gea.
Despite the small gap separating the sides in the race for Europe, Solskjaer believes that the two players’ experiences this season are a different kettle of fish.
And the Norwegian appeared to question 23-year-old Henderson’s ability to cope with the pressure of playing for the Red Devils at this moment in time.
Solskjaer added: “It’s a different job to be playing for Sheffield United and for Manchester United, they are different.
“He’s got different roles and for the last two years he’s had fantastic development, played with and against men, played in the Championship and he plays in a team that plays exciting football. The stats show he’s proved worthy of a few points.
“He’s learning all the time, a passionate keeper, developing, with good coaching. One day he’ll be England No.1 and United No1 and he needs to keep developing.”
With the likes of Chelsea ready to tempt Henderson with a £50million transfer bid, Solskjaer knows he may have to satisfy that desire to be No1 sooner rather later.
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By: Marc Mayo
Title: Dean Henderson vs David De Gea: How Man Utd goalkeeper stats compare this season… and who is really better?
Sourced From: www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/11932103/henderson-de-gea-man-utd-stats/
Published Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 11:16:59 +0000
