David de Gea will be Manchester United's starting goalkeeper for next week's UEFA Cup final against Villarreal. The Manchester Evening News in the UK revealed that De Gea will hold off Dean Henderson to start at the Gdansk Stadium in Poland as long as he doesn't suffer an injury.
De Gea is said to have been given the go-ahead by Solskjaer to feature in the UEFA Cup final mainly because of his performance in the second leg of the 2-3 semi-final defeat to Roma. Add to that the fact that the Spanish international would have been United's cup goalkeeper recently, having started all four games against Granada and Roma.
It was only previously that Henderson, 24, was United's cup keeper, taking part in four games against Real Sociedad and AC Milan, but then became a Premier League debutant because of De Gea's paternity leave, which is partly why he ended up not starting the UEFA Cup final.
In terms of current form, the 30-year-old De Gea outplayed Henderson, completing 10 saves against Roma to dash the Red Wolves' hopes of a comeback. Moreover, De Gea has played better than Henderson in subsequent Premier League matches. Against Leicester City and Fulham, although United conceded 3 goals, 1 draw and 1 loss, but the loss of the goalkeeper has nothing to do with the goalkeeper, De Gea also pounced on some quite threatening shots; in contrast, Henderson against Liverpool a game on the loss of 4 goals, one of which is off the mark, the other is in the face of Salah's one-two, letting out a huge space of the right side of the shot.
It would therefore be logical for Solskjaer to continue the rotation pattern for United's final five games, with De Gea and Dean Henderson playing one game each. That means Henderson out for the visit of Wolves in the final round of the Premier League, while De Gea goes up for the UEFA Cup final.
It means Solskjaer has abandoned his approach of changing the starting cup goalkeeper for last season's key games. At the time he controversially dropped cup goalkeeper Sergio Romero, resulting in League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup semi-final losses. Romero was so unhappy with this that he immediately decided to leave, but the move was rejected and the Argentine international goalkeeper has not featured since for a year and is set to leave the club when his contract expires next month.
But United's strategy of not having a fixed starting goalkeeper this season has not convinced either goalkeeper, with the Manchester Evening News claiming that both De Gea and Henderson are unhappy with Solskjaer's attempts to have it both ways.
United have extended Henderson's contract by five years on a whopping £120,000-a-week but will look to move on if he fails to become United's first choice next season, with Tottenham Hotspur, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund all eyeing a move.
The manager had promised Henderson a start in certain matches but ended up not starting him, leaving the England international goalkeeper frustrated, with the English media claiming that Henderson took issue with some of Solskjaer's arrangements.
Another dressing room source said De Gea's relationship with Solskjaer had also been problematic in 2021.
De Gea, who is under contract with United until 2023, earns a team-high £375,000-a-week and no European giants are in need of a new No.1, with Paris Saint-Germain renewing the contract of Keylor Navas and Juventus said to be more interested in AC Milan's Leonardo Donnarumma, who is nearing the end of his contract.
