If David de Gea’s Man United career isn’t over, then it could certainly be said to be hanging in the balance after his awful, error-prone, performance against Sevilla.
The Spaniard had one of those games where if something could go wrong it did, and given it’s not the first time it would be no surprise to see Erik ten Hag look to put pressure on his number one at the very least.
It appears that the Dutchman may already be making moves to do just that too.
According to Jutarnji, the Red Devils are willing to pay the €10m release clause of Dinamo Zagreb’s international custodian, Dominik Livakovic.
At 28 years of age, Livakovic has years left in the game at the top level, albeit he has no previous Premier League experience which is likely to preclude him from becoming the club’s main keeper, at least initially.
That doesn’t take away from the need for de Gea to be put under the most intense pressure from within the club.
For far too long the Spaniard has been comfortable as United’s first-choice, and that can isn’t necessarily the best scenario for a manager to walk into.
Competition for places should be uniform across the squad, not just the outfield players.
If you genuinely feel that your place is under threat from someone else, you are going to pull out all of the stops week in and week out.
De Gea can no longer get by with having a decent few games and then a horror show, and perhaps the pursuit of Livakovic is the key to getting the best out of him.