Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha believes Erik ten Hag should sell Harry Maguire and let David de Gea go to improve the spine of the team.
Reports have suggested Ten Hag may be willing to sell current club captain Maguire in the summer transfer window after he lost his place to Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and more recently Victor Lindelof. However, MEN Sport understands United are looking to extend De Gea's contract which expires at the end of the season albeit on a reduced wage.
Some at United are becoming increasingly concerned about whether De Gea is the no.1 beyond this campaign. In an interview with Paddy Power, Saha was adamant both players should leave Old Trafford.
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Firstly on Maguire, he said: "A lot of the confidence at Manchester United comes the front line, but also the defence. We have to wait to see who will start next season alongside Lisandro Martínez and Raphael Varane.
"[Harry Maguire] has acted very professionally and did not make any noise or complaints. But based on his quality, he has to find another club because this season has been awful for him."
"The David de Gea situation is a difficult one because on one hand, he saves his team and he’s able to earn them points but what we want is consistency every game," he added. "Now and then he has a bump but that’s the nature of the game.
"If you want to win the title, you need consistency and not three or four mistakes that costs the team a game. If you have a goalkeeper making mistakes, but still score three goals, you don’t really take notice, but De Gea’s mistakes have caused a lot of damage.
"I see a problem with De Gea because he has improved over the years, but he’s nowhere near other goalkeepers that we know are very good with their feet, like Ederson. De Gea has to improve or accept that he will have competition, and that is totally normal."
Should both Maguire and De Gea both leave, Saha believes Ten Hag should spend money improving the team's spine to help them push on. "There are areas on the pitch that Manchester United will always focus on," he concluded.
"The spine of the team being the goalkeeper, central defenders, central midfielders and strikers. They need more players throughout the spine of the team.
"For those players who haven’t played many games, and don’t understand the trajectory of the team, they must go on and find another club. In this transfer window, the owners must understand they must make a big statement.
"They need to look at big signings, change the infrastructure and send a message out that this club is not satisfied with where they are. The current owners need to let the club move on to help take the club back to the level it deserves."
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