Manchester United have reportedly identified Barcelona goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen as a possible replacement for David de Gea, who could leave this summer.
According to the Daily Record, the Spaniard is stalling on signing a new deal at Old Trafford because he wants to earn the same wage package as the club’s top earner Alexis Sanchez.
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In theory, De Gea has been United’s best player in recent years, so some might say he deserves to be the highest paid player at the club. Others will just shake their head at the thought of Sanchez earning that amount and performing so poorly.
The Metro claims the Chilean earns around £400,000 per week at United, despite the fact he’s been a complete flop since a January 2018 move from Arsenal.
However, Ed Woodward has seemingly indicated that such an increase for De Gea is impossible, which has led to the club considering options elsewhere such as the £22 million-rated Jasper Cillessen – as per the Metro.
It shouldn’t be difficult to convince the Barcelona number two to jump ship and become United’s number one, but is this really United’s best option?
De Gea has one-year remaining on his existing deal with the Reds and will be free to leave on a Bosman this time next year unless the club can find an agreement with the player’s entourage.
We all know Cillessen is not on the same level as De Gea, but it’s also time to improve our defence and ensure less responsibility is put on the keeper each week. The Dutchman plays second fiddle to Marc-Andre tee Stegen, and has only played 30 games in total since arriving at the Camp Nou from Ajax in 2016.
Aged 30, Cillessen’s best years as a keeper should be ahead of him.
United fans know replacing De Gea — when the time comes — will be an incredible difficult task. There are few keepers in the world capable of replacing De Gea, even if the past season wasn’t one of his best.
