Neville and Keane urge Man Utd to replace stalwart; Nottingham Forest ‘hopeful’ of signing Ten Hag reject | OneFootball

Gary Neville has admitted the time has come for Manchester United to replace David de Gea after Roy Keane launched more criticism at the keeper.

The 32-year-old is out of contract this month but it is believed he is close to signing an extension. Nevertheless, Erik Ten Hag is still expected to pursue another shot-stopper in the transfer window.

De Gea signed for Man Utd back in 2011 and has been a mainstay between the sticks ever since. Overall, he has made 544 appearances for the Red Devils, keeping 190 clean sheets.

In the process, the Spaniard has won one Premier League title, an FA Cup, a Europa League and two League Cups.

However, De Gea has made some costly mistakes this season. As a result, fans and pundits have questioned his ability to be Man Utd’s number one.

Keane, in particular, has been a strong critic of De Gea this season. Indeed, the Irishman is adamant United ‘won’t close the gap’ on Manchester City with De Gea as a goalkeeper because he ‘makes too many mistakes.’

Now, Neville has admitted his former teammate may have a point.

“They do need to get rid of him either now or if they’ve not got the money then obviously a year later is the maximum,” Neville told Sky Bet’s The Overlap.

“I don’t know how much money is there, so they might not be able to replace De Gea and, say, buy Harry Kane – if they were looking to do that – in one hit.

“So they might say, ‘OK, we’ll have to cope with him for another year because we don’t want to spend £50m-£70m on a goalkeeper because we want to get Harry Kane and another player’ and then next year they do that [replace De Gea].

“But I agree with Roy. A goalkeeper is everything to a league [title], you have to have a brilliant goalkeeper, you have to have an unbelievable goalkeeper.”

Neville and Keane’s comments come in the wake of reports claiming Man Utd are set to offload another goalkeeper this summer – Dean Henderson.

The England international has spent the season on loan with Nottingham Forest, with Ten Hag deeming him unfit to play ahead of De Gea.

After an initial good start at the City Ground, injuries and the arrival of Keylor Navas limited Henderson’s game time in the latter stages of the campaign

Overall, the 26-year-old made 18 Premier League appearances for the Tricky Trees, keeping six clean sheets.

Despite the inconsistency of his playing time, Forest are now ‘hopeful’ of signing Henderson permanently, according to Football Insider.

Steve Cooper’s side have reportedly ‘presented a deal’ to Man Utd as they look to kick off their summer business.

With De Gea’s form unconvincing and Henderson seemingly on the way out, Man Utd will no doubt look to sign a new keeper this summer.

So, that will definitely be something for Red Devil’s fans to keep an eye on in the transfer market.