For the last eight seasons, David de Gea has pretty much always been the first name on the team sheet, a steady, continuous presence in a Manchester United XI that’s chopped and changed quite a bit since then.
After this season, that could all be changing.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, Jose Mourinho said on Friday that he was “not confident,” but also “not worried,” about de Gea’s future at Old Trafford. De Gea’s contract is set to run out in June but the club reportedly has a one-year option to keep him through 2020.
“I am not confident,” Mourinho said. “But I am not worried. I am not more than worried. I cannot find the word in English. Let’s see what happens. Only the club, David (de Gea) and David’s people can answer to that. My comment is only one: everybody knows how good he is, everybody knows how important he is for Manchester United. And if Manchester United wants to be better than it is now and not worse than it is now, obviously that would be very important to keep David.”
In all, de Gea has made 246 Premier League appearances with 94 clean sheets, and he should pass the century mark at some point this season. De Gea famously nearly moved to Real Madrid on transfer deadline day in 2015, only for the paperwork to not be processed on time before the window slammed shut. However, even since then, de Gea has continued to work hard and improve with Man United, becoming a player who has at times single-handedly kept the Red Devils in some games.
It would be a huge loss for Man United to see de Gea leave, but it’s not really Mourinho’s problem right now. He might not make it to next June to see de Gea depart.