Paul Scholes brands David de Gea ‘a real problem’ for Manchester United

According to BT Sport (h/t The Express), Manchester United legend Paul Scholes believes David de Gea is increasingly becoming a problem the club cannot afford to ignore.

The 30-year-old has been the club’s first-choice keeper for the better part of a decade. There were certain doubts regarding his standing last summer given his errors and the return of Dean Henderson.

However, De Gea has managed to keep the aspiring Henderson out of the starting line-up. Despite being the fifth-highest clean-sheet holder in the league this season, questions regarding his future do not appear to have dissipated.

“Yeah [the clean sheet record is] not good enough.”

Speaking at half-time during yesterday’s match against Newcastle United, Scholes was critical of the goalkeeper and pointed out the incidents where he should have done better.

“David again, so sloppy, it’s becoming a real problem, having the confidence in your goalkeeper.”

Scholes went as far as to suggest that the United defence appears to lack faith in their goalkeeper. A major point of contention for Scholes is De Gea’s inability to claim crosses that come in off short corners.

“And short corners, United had one out for two or three corners, this is the one where David again, can you catch that?”

An English bias?

While Scholes also blamed skipper Harry Maguire for Newcastle goal yesterday, his criticism of De Gea appears to be more pronounced.

Scholes was an excellent player who has been among our best players in the Premier League. But his criticism of De Gea appears to be over the top.

The Spaniard has admittedly cut down on his errors this season and has been taking a lot of flak that appears to be directed to him. Whether it is the English bias or not is unknown, but Harry Maguire is more of a weakness in the backline than De Gea.

Calling the Spaniard the biggest weakness in our squad is a gross misappropriation of facts and the reality of our situation.

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Henderson could very well be the future of United and could take the reins from De Gea in the future. However, he has made the same number of errors leading to a goal this season as the Spaniard, and needs to develop further.

Calling out De Gea has become somewhat of a fad these days. The Spaniard certainly deserves more credit than he is currently getting.