David De Gea's error in Manchester United's defeat to West Ham United on Sunday has raised fresh concerns over his future at the club.
The Spaniard allowed Said Benrahma's tame effort from distance to slip through his defences and into the net at the London Stadium for what proved to be the only goal of the game. It was the fourth error the 32-year-old has made this season which has directly led to a goal.
Yet De Gea has kept more clean sheets than any other keeper in the Premier League this term and is in conversations over a new contract with his current deal up in the summer. Erik ten Hag has kept faith in the former Atletico Madrid youngster this season but former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand believes the manager must now make a call on whether De Gea is the man to help take the club forward.
"The question mark about him I think is whether he's good enough with his feet to play the Erik ten Hag way. In terms of shot-stopping he's made a mistake today but that's not the area I question him. Is he a good enough footballer to play for Manchester United?" he said, speaking on BT Sport.
"The only person that can answer that is Erik ten Hag and we'll know at the end of this season. If he gets a new deal then Ten Hag thinks he is more than capable of being his number one goalkeeper."
On the Benrahma goal, Ferdinand added of De Gea: "He never takes a step to steady himself, every step is backwards. There is not one where he goes 'I am going to steady myself and plant my feet'. Everything is going backwards and he is at a loss. Then if you slip you can't make up for it."
Former England international Peter Crouch also criticised De Gea's positioning for West Ham's winner and feels the magnitude of the mistakes is cause for concern.
Crouch added: "We all know he should save it but if you look at his position, he just doesn't get himself set. We always talk about getting on the front foot and because he is back-pedalling he is never on the front foot to attack the ball but he has got to save it.
"It's a strange one, because he's conceded goals from his own mistakes but he's also kept the most clean sheets in the league. If he's in contract negotiations making mistakes like that is never going to help. He's been a top-class goalkeeper over the years, but at the moment it feels like he's making big errors in big, big games."
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