- Spanish goalkeeper was replaced with Andre Onana by Ten Hag, last year
- Ten Hag was relieved of his duties as United manager today after a poor start to the new season
- United fans left unimpressed by De Gea’s posts on social media following Ten Hag’s dismissal
The reaction of David De Gea to the sacking of Erik Ten Hag as Manchester United manager has not been met positively by Red Devils fans, who have hit back at the Spanish goalkeeper’s social media posts in the wake of the Dutchman’s dismissal, earlier today.
De Gea was never trusted as United’ number one under Ten Hag, despite winning the Premier League’s Golden Glove award for the 22/23 season, having kept more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper in the English top flight (17). The former Atletico Madrid stopper was cited as a weakness in United’s tactical plan, given that his distribution was not conducive for a plan that required playing out from the back. De Gea was often seen to be uncomfortable with claiming crosses and seemed weak on set pieces.
At one point during the 22/23 campaign it appeared a new contract would be offered to United’s then number one, only for Ten Hag to reverse the offer and instead pursue a move for Internazionale ‘keeper Andre Onana, who played under the Dutchman at Ajax. De Gea left Old Trafford in the summer of last year after 12 years at the Theatre of Dreams, and remained unnattached throughout the 23/24 season.
Now at Fiorentina in Serie A, De Gea couldn’t resist rubbing salt into Ten Hag’s wounds with a single Italian hand gesture emoji on X and his Instagram story, seemingly celebrating the decision of United’s board to part ways with the manager who sent him on his way from Old Trafford after over a decade with the club.
The post, which at the time of writing has accumulated over 116,000 likes on X and over 19,000 reposts, has been met with disdain by a large number of United fans, who have been quick to remind the Spanish stopper of his own poor form during his last few seasons with the Red Devils.
During his dozen year tenure at Old Trafford, De Gea made 545 appearances for United, lifting the Premier League in 2013, the FA Cup in 2016, the League Cup twice, in 2017 and 2023 and the Europa League in 2017. He was also named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year five times and won United’s Player’s Player of the Season on four occasions. De Gea was also a five time recipient of Match Of The Day’s Save of the Season .
