Manchester United are reportedly weighing up a shock move for Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, as reported by The Sun. It is suggested in the report that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could no longer offer David De Gea his blind support after a umber of high-profile errors that the Spanish goalkeeper has made during the course of the season, including conceding two poor goals in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final in their defeat to Chelsea, who incidentally were beaten by Arsenal in the final of the domestic cup at Wembley on Saturday.
The Leicester goalkeeper is the son of United legend and treble winner Peter Schmeichel. In recent weeks, United have been linked to Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak but his £109 million release clause would be too much this summer plus the fact that Atletico seem to haver warned any potential suitors that they intend to keep the goalkeeper at the club. It is suggested that Schmeichel, 33, would be much cheaper than Oblak but that is if Leicester would sell the player, which might be a problem.
Dean Henderson, 23, who has been on loan at Sheffield United for the past two seasons has been in contention in recent weeks to take over from De Gea but the report states that the player is still considered to be a rookie despite his solid performance in both the Championship and the Premier League during the past two seasons. It seems pretty strange that in a summer with United likely to have little money to spend and the fact they they need to strengthen in other places, that this story would be manufactured, which is what it seems to me.
Schmeichel won the Premier League title with Leicester back in the 2015/16 season but still has three years remaining on his current contract with the club, which was signed on the 31 August 2018. This could heavily inflate the cost for United, unless the player wanted a new challenge and played ball with an exit from the club seeing as they missed out on a UEFA Champions League place with United achieving a third-placed finish in the Premier League and Leicester finishing fifth.
During the course of the 2019/20 season, Schmeichel made a total of 44 appearances for Leicester, playing in the Premier League, the Carabao Cup and the Emirates FA Cup. He conceded a total of 48 goals, keeping 14 clean sheets – with 13 of those in the Premier League. When you look at Schmeichel and compare him to De Gea during the course of the 2019/209 season, De Gea conceded 36 goals compared to Schmeichel’s 41 with the Spaniard making three errors with led to a goal to Schmeichel’s one.
De Gea made a total of 96 saves, nine punches, nine high claims, 11 catches and three sweeper clearances with Schmeichel making 96 saves, eight punches, 14 high claims, 12 catches and eight sweeper clearances. The only main difference between the two goalkeepers is that Schmeichel made two penalty saves with De Gea not saving any. It makes me wonder whether United would be gaining anything from this if it actually happened or would it me a waste of both time and money. In my opinion, United should stick by De Gea this season and wait for Henderson to be ready for the rigours of first team football at United.
Written by John Walker
