Has an eminent football club ever actively discussed extending the contract of a certain starter whilst reducing his salary?
That is the situation Manchester United are in with David de Gea. It is an admission of De Gea's decline and hardly a ringing endorsement of his No.1 status.
Certain senior figures at United are not convinced. Some have reservations about De Gea as the No.1 beyond this season and others over the renewal United have been negotiating with him for upwards of a year.
Also read: Doubts growing over De Gea's role at United
United could have triggered the one-year extension in De Gea's contract, phased him out over next season and released him next summer. Yet they have not done so as it risks raising De Gea's salary back to £375,000 in the event United qualify for the Champions League. That is as Glazernomic as it gets.
On De Gea's current form, there is a danger United will be consigned to another season of Thursday-Sunday matches. United failed to open up some breathing space in the Premier League table last week and Liverpool are now breathing down their necks.
De Gea's future is so topical that Erik ten Hag has his own script to counter questions about De Gea: he is top of the clean-sheet table in the Premier League. Ten Hag has used that stock answer in Seville and London.
De Gea has not had a dreadful season and there have been notable matchwinning performances (ironically, against West Ham in the league and cup). His fingernail denial of the Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta is possibly the save of the season.
To deify De Gea for the number of shutouts does overlook the fine seasons Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw have enjoyed. Diogo Dalot also contributed to De Gea's tally in the first three months of the campaign. The clean sheets are a collective effort.
Individually, De Gea is a goalkeeper who has stood still. He was close to statuesque in anticipating Said Benrahma's shot at the London Stadium.
If De Gea is not in prime shot-stopping form then there is nothing redeemable about his game. At West Ham, he began both halves by passing to an opponent. He was so feeble at aerial deliveries he once stayed down after spilling the ball, anticipating a foul. No whistle came.
Sevilla exposed De Gea's limitations with all three goals last month: passing, set-pieces and sweeping. The Newcastle forward Jacob Murphy admitted they targeted De Gea's distribution in their commanding defeat of United three weeks earlier.
The last time De Gea's form was scrutinised so much during a run-in was four years ago and in the summer he agreed a contract that elevated him to United's highest earner.
Jose Mourinho, once such an ardent admirer his first act as United manager was to ensure De Gea stayed, opined De Gea was "a little bit lucky". He would be as lucky as a Lottery winner if he gets another contract.
The current United regime have subtly and impressively divorced themselves from the Ed Woodward era, so why risk repeating the same error? It is in their interests to lay down a marker and De Gea is the longest-serving first-teamer.
Ten Hag has been decisive in phasing out club captain Harry Maguire and he oversaw the end of Cristiano Ronaldo's United career. Everyone else is small-fry, as Marcus Rashford discovered when he was benched at Wolves for not hearing his alarm.
De Gea is a United great, with enough astounding saves to release a DVD box set in the Megastore. He merits an appreciative send-off but it does not always pan out that way. Ask Bryan Robson or Steve Bruce or Roy Keane.
Discarding De Gea would be a ruthless signal of intent, consigning the cosy culture to the past. United once announced renewals for Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones within 12 months.
At least Jones is getting released.
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