Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho thinks that Dean Henderson is better than David De Gea, at least according to reports by The Sun. It is a debate that will continue well into the summer and probably throughout the 2020/21 season. The Spanish number one has been heavily criticised since his performance against Chelsea in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday which saw Mourinho’s former club, Chelsea beat United 3-1 with two De Gea howlers.
De Gea was a player that was subject to a lot of criticism and abuse on social media by so-called United supporters after his display at Wembley. The player deserved the criticism but not the abuse. You always know that it goes too far when multiple people are abusing other people on social media. It is these people hidden behind screens that won’t say anything to the person in real life, so that said, it is pretty much meaningless what they say. It embarrasses them, not their target.
De Gea does need to find some form again, the form that he showed for the club during the time he won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award four times. In his comments after the defeat to Chelsea, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stated that De Gea ‘should have saved Mason Mount’s shot 100 times out of 100‘, which shows how poor a mistake it was for the 29-year-old to make but also seems to be something that states that Mount has immense talent, which is not the case. Luck is not a talent.
This season, De Gea has made 41 appearances for United, conceding 42 goals in all competitions and keeping 14 clean sheets. His counterpart, Henderson has made a total of 39 appearances for Sheffield United so far this season, conceding 34 goals and also keeping 14 clean sheets. Based on these stats alone, it shows you that in two fewer appearances this season, so far, Henderson has conceded eight fewer goals and kept the same amount of clean sheets. This might make you think that Henderson is better than the Spanish goalkeeper.
It has been reported, despite being carried by The Sun, the suggestion comes from the Manchester Evening News, Mourinho is a fan of the 23-year-old who seems to be a summer transfer target for Chelsea manager Frank Lampard this year, which may not be something that will actually happen being that the Henderson has two more years left on his United contract and that the Old Trafford club will sit down for talks with the player and his agent next week to find a way forward.
Many would like to see Henderson given some guarantees of his future at United, preferable to some him being guaranteed the number one shirt at some point in the future, despite De Gea having a contract at the club which ends in the summer of 2023 with an option of another year to be added. Mourinho believes that Henderson has pipped De Gea to the top spot at the club but whether Solskjaer agrees with that remains to be seen. United would be slammed if they ignore a player like Henderson who should be a player Solskjaer builds his team around being that he is young, English and came through the clubs academy.
Written by John Walker
