Manchester United have made the right decision in the wrong way with David de Gea

Confirmation that David de Gea's time at Manchester United has come to an end is the perfect example of how it's possible to come to the right decision in the wrong way.

After 12 years and 545 games, De Gea deserved a better farewell than a few words from Erik ten Hag and John Murtough on the club's website. He deserved a better chance to say goodbye than an Instagram post to United supporters.

Only six players have made more appearances for United than De Gea and all of them have a better palmares. Somehow De Gea's 12 years of service returned just one Premier League title. Few players have devoted as much to this club and been rewarded with so little.

It was De Gea's misfortune to spend most of his career at one of the world's most storied football clubs at a time when they were focusing on horror stories. In those dozen years, De Gea experienced United finishing in every position from first to seventh in the Premier League. They finished sixth as often as they finished second in his time at Old Trafford.

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But still he stuck around. Perhaps a faulty fax machine is the only reason he got beyond 2016, but get beyond it he did. That move to Real Madrid collapsed and De Gea played another 321 games for a team that was often a laughing stock.

Now the journey is done, let's not pretend that the Spaniard was faultless in this era. There is a reason he is leaving on a free transfer, but for all that mistakes crept into his game, for all the doubts that grew in his final three to four years, he was almost always more reliable than those in front of him.

He became more of a leader as the years progressed as well. He went from a reluctant talker to someone willing to front up. In