Gary Neville has conceded that the time is right for Manchester United to replace David de Gea after the goalkeeper was once again slammed by Roy Keane.
De Gea, 32, is out of contract this month but is believed to be close to signing an extension after agreeing to take a significant salary cut. However, Erik ten Hag is still expected to seek another shot-stopper this summer even if De Gea does officially commit his future to the club.
The Spanish international won the Premier League's Golden Glove award for keeping the most amount of clean sheets (17) in the top flight this season, but he has been heavily criticised following a string of costly errors.
Keane has been a regular critic of De Gea this season and has once again urged the club to get rid of the veteran. The Irishman is adamant that United "won't close the gap" on Manchester City with De Gea as first-choice as he "makes too many mistakes".
And Neville has admitted that his former Old Trafford teammate may have a point - even if they cannot afford to act this summer. He told Sky Bet’s The Overlap: "They do need to get rid of him either now or if they’ve not got the money then obviously a year later is the maximum. I don’t know how much money is there, so they might not be able to replace De Gea and, say, buy Harry Kane – if they were looking to do that – in one hit.
"So they might say, 'OK, we’ll have to cope with him for another year because we don’t want to spend £50m-£70m on a goalkeeper because we want to get Harry Kane and another player' and then next year they do that [replace De Gea].
"But I agree with Roy, a goalkeeper is everything to a league [title], you have to have a brilliant goalkeeper, you have to have an unbelievable goalkeeper."
Join the debate! Do you think Man Utd should replace De Gea this summer? Let us know here.
The comments of Neville and Keane come in the wake of reports claiming Manchester United are interested in Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, via Sport Witness, United are monitoring 26-year-old Italian, who is also being watched by Inter Milan, who are braced for interest their No.1, Andre Onana, in the upcoming transfer window.
Vicario kept seven clean sheets for Empoli in Serie A this term and is the latest shot-stopper to be linked with United.
The Red Devils have also been credited with an interest in Onana, Porto's highly-rated Diogo Costa and Brentford No.1 David Raya, who is expected to be sold by the Bees this summer after entering the final year of his contract.
