Former Manchester United captains Gary Neville and Roy Keane have agreed this summer would be the right time to let David de Gea leave the club.
The Spanish goalkeeper has been at Old Trafford since 2011 when he was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson. This year, De Gea won the Premier League's Golden Glove for the most clean sheets.
Despite this, some United fans have called into question De Gea's performances. His struggles playing out from the back have been a particular criticism and have been costly on occasion too.
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Discussing the 32-year-old's future in Manchester on Sky Bet's The Overlap, Keane was adamant De Gea should leave. "If David De Gea is in goal next year, that won’t help close the gap on Manchester City," he said.
"You wouldn’t keep him as number two because he’s been number one for years - if he’s not going to be number one, then you move him on. I think he makes too many mistakes."
Keane added: "We don’t know what goes on in the background of clubs, but it’s what you bring in – you have to bring in better. There’s no point letting De Gea go and then bringing in somebody who is not up for it, but that’s been United’s job to look for a replacement since last year, because he’s getting older."
Meanwhile, Neville admitted he could see De Gea remaining at the club but, on balance, he would allow the 'keeper to leave if it was up to him. "I don’t know how much money there is so they might not be able to say bye De Gea and buy Harry Kane, if they were looking to do that in one hit, so they might have to say: 'Ok, we’ll cope with him for another year, because he’s here and we don’t want to spend 50,60, 70-million on another goalkeeper because we want to get Kane and another player’ – and then next year they do that.
"The only reason why I would say keep him is they use the money they have there, but they will not win the league. A goalkeeper is everything to a league – you have to have a brilliant goalkeeper.
"The reason why Leicester have gone down, is [Kasper] Schmeichel’s personality and character [isn’t there anymore] – how have they lost that? You can’t lose that."
"[Jordan] Pickford is not a world-class goalkeeper, if you look at those three teams that were vying not to go down, Leeds and Leicester's problems are with their goalkeeper, then you look at Pickford and he’s been stable for Everton – that could be the difference, between one point or two," Neville continued. "De Gea is not one for the longer term and they do need to get rid of him now, or if they don’t have the money, then a year later at the maximum."
Last week, Erik ten Hag said he was confident De Gea would sign a new contract with the club, with his existing deal expiring at the end of June.
A Manchester Evening News special souvenir edition - Fergie's First - charts United's 1992/93 title-winning campaign and you can get your hands on one here
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