De Gea professes love for Manchester United despite contract dispute
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By Martin Graham | 1st Apr 2023
Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has stated that his contract standoff with the club does not take away from his affection for the club.
The Spaniard is the club’s longest serving player, having joined in 2011 while Sir Alex Ferguson was still the manager. He has gone on to break every goalkeeping record at the club while racking up the fourth most clean sheets in Premier League history.
He has struggled to exert his dominance in between the sticks for the Red Devils in the last few seasons but at the same time, he has managed to be one of the club’s standout players. He has remained the trusted number one for every manager he has played under and in 2019, was rewarded with a contract which saw his salary rise to £375,000-per-week.
That contract is set to expire this summer and Erik ten Hag has commissioned the board to enter into contract discussions with the former Atlético de Madrid goalkeeper.
De Gea would reject the offer put before his table in the recent months, leading to speculations about the Spaniard’s intention to leave Manchester United on a free. He has now come out to debunk those claims, stating that he loves the club and is focused on the rest of the season.
He told Sky Sports : “Of course I’ve been here many, many years enjoying every moment in this club, playing many, many games. Of course it is great to be here, it’s a massive club, I love the club and I’m really happy here of course. It has been the same over the years, a lot of noise about everything in this club but the players, we just focus on games.
“Especially the one we have on Sunday is a massive one for us because we want to finish in the top four. Like I say we have many, many games so we have to be really focused on training well, recovering well, helping the team and that’s the most important thing, rather than contracts or anything.”
It is understood that De Gea rejected the contract offer because he felt the club was low balling him. There is news of improving Marcus Rashford’s current contract which would see him earn as high as £500,000-a-week and De Gea believes he is worth that much after 12 years at the club.
It remains to be seen what the club will decide, especially with its sale being the primary focus of the upper management.
Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer
