David de Gea's Manchester United future could depend on meeting Erik ten Hag prediction

Manchester United cruised to a 4-1 victory in the first leg of their Europa League tie with Real Betis, but the performance of goalkeeper David de Gea may attract concern within the United fanbase.

There can be no complaints regarding the goal De Gea did concede as Ayoze Perez left the goalkeeper with no chance with his outside-of-the-foot strike, but it’s De Gea’s lack of ability on the ball that is raising questions over his future in the squad.

There is no doubting De Gea’s ability as a shot-stopper as time and time again over the past 12 years the Spaniard has come up with jaw-dropping saves for United. Whilst making saves is a goalkeeper's primary job, the modern era requires goalkeepers to be as competent with their feet as outfield players.

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Erik ten Hag is very much a modern coach and likes United to build up attacks from the back, a style of play that demands a lot from De Gea. He has never been excellent with his feet, but the apparent lack of improvement from De Gea may cause Ten Hag to look elsewhere for a long-term option.

De Gea’s distribution against Betis was far from satisfactory, with only one completed long ball out of six attempts, with some particularly peculiar attempts that created big chances for Betis. De Gea calmly passed the ball straight to Betis’ Juanmi who played in goalscorer Perez before his deflected effort hit the post when the scores were level.

Moments like this can completely flip a game on its head and had United gone in at the break a goal down the game could have played out a lot differently.

Ten Hag addressed the issue after the match. He said: “From today I can’t ignore it, but I think we have seen many games he did