Manchester United can move on from De Gea, says Schmeichel

While the Red Devils legend would be sorry to see the Spaniard leave Old Trafford for Real Madrid, he is confident that Louis van Gaal could rebuild around a new keeper


Manchester United will “never be about one player” and would move on should goalkeeper David de Gea be sold, says club legend Peter Schmeichel.

De Gea has been in exceptional form for Louis van Gaal’s side this term and was voted United’s Player of the Year by both players and fans at the team’s end-of-season awards on Tuesday.

The Spain international’s sparkling performances have attracted interest from Real Madrid and De Gea has been tipped for a return to the Spanish capital, having previously represented Atletico Madrid – with the manager admitting that they have prepared for the possibility of him leaving.

Schmeichel, who made 398 appearances between the sticks for United during an eight-year spell, would love De Gea to stay at Old Trafford but is confident that Van Gaal would find a suitable replacement should he need to.

“Clearly there’s an issue where either himself or his girlfriend wants to go back to Madrid and you can’t argue that Real Madrid isn’t as big a place as Manchester United – some would say bigger,” the Dane told Perform.

“If he wants to go, he’s done fantastically well for Manchester United. We should be thanking him and we, of course, will move on.

“I think the most important thing for Manchester United is that we have a positive transfer window and we get players in that can take the club forward. It will never be about one player, it’s not just about David de Gea.

“If he wants to continue playing [for us], we’ll be very happy with that. If not, we move on and the manager will take decisions on who takes over but we need more than one player – everybody knows that.

“Hopefully we have positive messages coming in terms of players coming to Manchester United and we build an atmosphere and spirit where we can move on and challenge for trophies again.”

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