De Gea to "Renew or Leave" As United Scout Patricio

David de Gea, targeted by Manchester United to replace Edwin van der sar, and current Athletico Madrid number one has been told by his club that he will have two choices at the end of the season: to renew his Athletico contract, or leave for United.

The 20 year-old Spanish goalkeeper had met with Athletico club officials twice now to discuss his future, but no deal has been agreed, and with 3 years left on his deal, the Spanish club are getting agitated. The Madrid Chief Executive Angel Gil Marin said:

"We have met with him to negotiate a new deal on two occasions." 

"He has a contract with Atletico for three more seasons, so it is necessary to renew it and reasonable to revise his salary, which is well below his current performance. 

"But at the end of the season there will be two choices - to renew or to leave."

The Sky Sports journalist and compatriot of De Gea's, Guillem Balague has spoken about the decision being in De Gea's hands, but that the player is still undecided. He sees Manchester United as a great opportunity and a great leap forward of course, but is comfortable in his home country and may yet decide to commit to his boyhood club.

The latest reports are that, if Sir Alex Ferguson fails in his attempts to bring De Gea to Old Trafford, he will move for the Portuguese 23 year-old goalkeeper, Rui Patricio. The Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper is regarded as one of the brightest prospects in Europe, and it has been reported that former Sporting star Luis Nani has recommended the goalkeeper to Ferguson.

The Portuguese press stated that Ferguson sent his goalkeeping coach Eric Steele to Portugal over the week end to watch Patricio in action against FC Porto, and with a number of European clubs watching the player, Steele wasn't alone.

Patricio is not Portugal's number one choice goalkeeper, but he did win his debut against Spain, in the second half of a 4 - 0 win for Portugal on the 17th November 2010. If he joins United this summer, he will be fighting for one of the toughest number 1 spots to fill in Europe, with huge boots to fill when van der sar retires. A goalkeeper is certainly coming to United this summer, but it is up to David de Gea who that goalkeeper is: him, or United's insurance, Patricio.

DBSFootball in association with: http://www.watch-football.tv/football/ - Live Football Streaming.

Arsenal Want Djalo But No New Goalkeeper

Arsenal face Liverpool today in what is a massive game for Wenger's side as they try to close the gap on Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table. Arsenal will therefore be coming up against the goalkeeper that they tried to sign a couple of transfer windows ago, Pepe Reina.

However, that was before Wojciech Szczesny appeared as a solid figure between the white sticks at the Emirates. He has, Wenger believes, turned into a potential number 1 goalkeeper, and, now recovered from the dislocated finger he suffered against Barcelona in the Champions League, he will be out to prove it against Liverpool:

"Szczesny he has the calibre to be a goalkeeper at Arsenal Football Club and we have Fabianski as well."

"Szczesny has the potential [to be No 1]. It will be a fight because Fabianski will be back. We still have Almunia too, he has one year to go [on his contract].

"We can always in mid-season call Jens Lehmann back!" 

From that then, we can take that Wenger will not be delving into the transfer window to purchase a new goalkeeper, as he has all he needs already at the club. From Szczesny's performances this season, that is understandable. Aside from the defensive mishap in the Carling Cup final, he has been blunder free - something his team mates and rivals, Fabianski and Almunia, cannot boast.

Wenger's comments also seems to spell an end to Manuel Almunia's Arsenal career. No mention of the Spanish goalkeeper and Arsenal's fans huge general mistrust in him are not promising signs, and with the two Polish youngsters and a possible Lehmann return, he won't be getting many games next season anyway.

But according to some reports, Arsenal will try to improve their team further up the pitch with the signing of Yannick Djalo.

The 24 year-old Portuguese forward currently plays for Sporting Lisbon and has attracted attention from various clubs including Everton, but Arsenal are apparently favourites to sign Djalo who can operate both as a winger and a striker.

Djalo possesses blistering pace and has a strong physical presence, making over 80 appearances for Sporting, scoring 20 goals. Sporting will therefore be expecting to make £8 million for the player who has appeared once for Portugal so far.

Szczesny to Start As Fans Turn Against Almunia

Arsenal's very promising goalkeeper Wojciech Sczcesny will start against Liverpool for the first time since he dislocated his finger in the Champions League loss at the hands of Barcelona. The 20 year-old has made a swift recovery since his injury in early March, and has returned quicker than expected, as he was initially thought to be out until the end of April.

The Polish 'keeper will celebrate his 21st birthday on the 18th of this month, which he will hope to celebrate in good spirits after a win at the Emirates to a Liverpool side who travel on the back of thrashing a poor Manchester City by three goals to nothing.

Jens Lehmann had to step in for the Blackpool game last week, due to a knee injury to Almunia in the warm up. Almunia's injury came to the apparent relief of the majority of Arsenal fans who voted on my poll issued just after the Blackpool game on who they would rather in the Arsenal goal for the remainder of the season:

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said:

"Szczesny will play. It's a big surprise for us because we thought his season was over. But he was given the green light four weeks after the Barcelona game and he has had a full week of training.

"Jens wants to help out when needed and he knows the rule. I want to congratulate him on the game he played."

So What Is Happening With David De Gea?

It seems that some newspapers know more about transfer deals than the clubs and players involved in them. Manchester United will be buying a goalkeeper in the summer, that is a certainty, but who that goalkeeper will be is the big question. Will Sir Alex Ferguson go for experience in Manuel Neur, or will he go for the youth and promise of David de Gea? Most publications believe it to be the latter, as is evident with their headlines.

Last night the Daily Mail reported an exclusive story stating: "Atletico keeper De Gea to sign five-year contract with Manchester United as clubs agree £17.8m deal".

They went on to say: "Manchester United have agreed a £17.8million deal for Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea." That sounds pretty solid, they sound pretty certain that United have agreed a deal, and De Gea is as good as gone.

However, you would think that if a player is involved in a £17.8 million deal with one of the worlds biggest clubs, he would know something about it, wouldn't you? You would think his agent, who is set to gain a huge some of money (reportedly 8 million Euros) would have told him something about this mega deal.

Well either his agent for some reason hasn't informed his client of Manchester United's proposed deal, or a deal doesn't exist, because the Spanish goalkeeper was quite certain that he has heard nothing from anyone:

"There is nothing, it is all lies." 

"I know nothing about offers from any team, whether it is other clubs or a renewal from Atletico."

"I have given my all to this team since I have been here, and that will continue today and tomorrow, I will always fight for this team."

"I do not think the fans have any reason to be against me, we have the best fans in the world and they will support me until my final day, for that I am sure."

So, straight from the players mouth, no deal has been agreed, or if it has, which is unlikely, the player doesn't know about it.

David De Gea is a very good goalkeeper, and as has been reported on this blog before he would be, in my opinion probably the best choice for Ferguson. At only 20 years old, he has the potential to be United's number 1 goalkeeper for the next 15 or so years, and at a fee of around £20 million, that seems a good deal. A deal may not be "wrapped up" already, like some headlines report, but United's interest is clear, and in the summer transfer window, those headlines might be reported again, but next time, with some truth in them.

Video: Manchester United Target David de Gea

Manchester United will buy a goalkeeper in the summer, that much is clear. Who it will be is the question, but if we are to believe reports from Spain and other sources, United have had a bid accepted for the 20 year old Spaniard, David de Gea.

He has been nicknamed by his Athletico Madrid team mates as "van der gea" due to his resemblance to the current, and soon to retire Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der sar. He is tall, agile, commanding and holds the invaluable quality of being able to keep calm under pressure. It is these sorts of qualities that Sir Alex Ferguson desires to replace his current number 1 and avoid the repetition of the last goalkeeping 'crisis' when Peter Schmeichel left United.

The United manager would also be hopeful to avoid the situation that Arsenal have suffered over the past five years - lacking a commanding, regular, consistent goalkeeper. Arsenal have recently received good news on this front, with another United target Maarten Stekelenburg being quoted as saying: "If an offer from Arsenal arrives, I will leave."

So with David de Gea being reported as United's top target, it is time to have a look at what United fans should expect from him. 29 games this season has seen him keep 9 clean sheets while saving a total of 121 shots. Compared to van der sar, his statistics are not all to bad. The United goalkeeper has played 28, kept 12 clean sheets and made a total of 67 saves. I suggest the statistics are heavily effected by the quality of the defences, but they are interesting nevertheless. Watch highlights of De Gea below:

Lehmann Big Fan of New Arsenal Number 1

Wenger has already confirmed that Wojciech Szczesny is Arsenal's number one goalkeeper as he has "done nothing for me to take him out", and now the Polish international has had praise heaped onto his shoulders from the former Arsenal goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann.

In Lehmann's first season as number one for Arsenal, he was part of their brilliant unbeaten Premier League winning side of 2003/04. Szczesny may not be experiencing that with Arsenal this season, but he hasn't shown too many signs of slipping up, and in his short run of consecutive appearances has shown a command for his goal and consistency that Lehmann would have certainly been proud of. Evidently, he is:

"He has got everything he needs apart from the experience and the maturity, so he needs to work hard. He is very talented."

Now 41 and retired, he has an array of trophies to show off, but the last trophy he won at Arsenal has also been the last trophy that Arsenal have won after suffering over half a decade trophy drought. His last was the F.A Cup of 2005 in which he saved the Paul Scholes spot kick in the penalty shoot-out against Manchester United. Coincidentally, Arsenal's rivals in the Premier League this season are Manchester United once again, and Lehmann believes that his former team can finally lift a trophy once again this season:

"I think now they are coming to the end of this transition period that started after we won our last Cup. It was always obvious that Arsène wanted to change the team, and he had to,"

"The boys have matured now, so I hope that they are going to win the title."

Arsenal are still to host United at the Emirates, and when they do on the 30th April, they will have the chance of ending the Red Devil's unbeaten run in the Premier League - that is if it isn't already broken before the time they meet. Manchester United are currently five points clear at the top of the table and if Arsenal can keep a clean sheet against them with Wojciech Szczesny in goal, they have a good chance of lifting that coveted Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004.

Almunia Out of Arsenal, Adler In for United

Goalkeepers look set for moves in this January's transfer window for both Arsenal and Manchester United, with Almunia seemingly on his way out Arsenal, while German stopper, Rene Adler may be on his way to Manchester United as Ferguson prepares for life without Edwin van der sar.

Firstly, with Almunia. The 33 year-old Spaniard has fallen out of favour in the Arsenal team, and is now the third choice goalkeeper, with Wojciech Szczesny and Lukas Fabianski ahead of him in the pecking order. Galatasaray, Athletico Madrid and Malaga have all been rumoured to be interested in Almunia, and Wenger appears to admit that the former Arsenal number ones situation is far from secure, as when asked whether he will leave said:

"There is a small chance. Yes, I have had a chat with him, but nothing is decided. We are in no-man's land at the moment on that front."

After conceding three goals against West Brom in Arsenals 3 - 2 loss back in late September, Almunia has not played as much as he would have liked. A move away to a club that could guarantee him first team football, and a club that could put up with a few errors now and then, will be a team Almunia would jump a the chance of joining.

Arsenal's title rivals, Manchester United also have a goalkeeping situation on their hands as Edwin van der sar is set for retirement at the end of the season. Anders Lindegaard has already been signed, and Ben Amos has been sent on loan for experience, while Tomasz Kuszczak has more or less threatened to leave unless he is made the number one keeper. This is probably unlikely, and Sir Alex Ferguson knows that. He want a more experienced, top quality goalkeeper, and Rene Adler is reportedly on of the names on his shortlist.

Before the January transfe window, Fergusonclaimed he wouldn't be bringing any new faces to Old Trafford. He has now changed his mind, and said:

"I'd like to get one player in during the transfer window if I could."

25 year-old German goalkeeper Rene Adler has not been shy about expressing his love for Manchester United. He has a clause in his contract which states that if United are to bid £15 million, his current club, Bayer Leverkuen must let him go. Adler was a fan of United as a child, and Peter Schmeichel was his idol:

"I have told the Leverkusen board that I am not willing to discuss any new contract until April. The board of the club are aware of the special clause in my contract.

"As a kid, my friends were interested in cartoons, MTV and German TV programmes, but I was the only interested in one person - Peter Schmeichel - who was in goal for Manchester United."

"I thought he was fantastic and loved every minute he was on TV with United. My whole bedroom was full of Schmeichel posters and United things"

Who better to have at your club than a quality player that has dreamed of playing for your team as a child? There will be no question of his comitmn to the club, especially as he went to the trouble of creating the unusual get-out clause.

Wojciech Szczesny To Start in Goal for Arsenal against United



Szczesny reveals how many goals he will concede tonight

 Wojciech Szczesny will start for Arsenal against Manchester United tonight in a game which could send either team to the top of the table.  
Szczesny confirmed the news by replying to a Polish journalist, who texted him over the speculation;
when asked if he would 'play against Manchester', Szczesny replied: 'Yes, and I'm really happy about it.'
Fabianski is said to have a groin injury and will not be risked, and despite Almunia declaring himself fit, the Spaniard will be overlooked.

The 20 year-old Polish goalkeeper has only 3 appearances for Arsenal's first team, but will be thrown in at the deep end as he comes face to face with a strike force, who, on their day are one of the best in the world in Rooney and Berbatov. However, Wenger has seen something in Szczesny in his time at the club, and thinks he has all the qualities to cope with players like these, as in January 2010, the Frenchman said:

"I really believe in him that he will one day be Arsenal's No 1. He has all the qualities you want from a goalkeeper"

Is today the day that he becomes Arsenal's number one? In such a big game against good opposition, there is no doubt, he will have plenty of time to prove himself. But there is also little doubt that the move to put such an inexperienced goalkeeper in to a big game so fast is a bit of a risk - especially as Manuel Almunia has declared himself fit.

Manchester United sign van der sar Replacement

Manchester United struggled miserably to find a replacement for Peter Schmeichel when the Dane left in 1999, and now Sir Alex Ferguson must find a replacement for the Dutch Edwin van der sar as he seems set for retirement at the age of 40. Their new £3.5 million signing of Anders Lindegaard will hopefully be a shortcut to the the route of goalkeepers that Ferguson had to take when Schmeichel left as the 26-year-old has a medical today.

Ferguson will be hoping that Lindegaard is not another van der Gouw, Bosnich, Taibi, or Ricardo, but rather a strong and reliable goalkeeper, who can be the safety net behind the defenders. Someone who will not make mistakes consistently, but who will be a calm and steady influence that a young team needs. No doubt that Ferguson has seen this player play - unlike the Bebe signing.

Manchester United goalkeeping legend Schmeichel doesn't believe that Lindegaard is good enough for his former club however.

When asked whether his compatriot Lindegaard was of sufficient quality to play for England's biggest club, h replied

 "No. We are talking about Manchester United here. You can look at talent, you can look at young good players, [but] you don't want that, you want someone who can go in straight away and give performances in 80% of the games that the number one choice goalkeeper will play for Manchester United.

"Too many goalkeepers have been through, in and out of the doors at Manchester United, and the general perception is, for this team to play well and win trophies, that position has to be [filled by] someone who is of the very, very highest quality but also the right experience."

Lindegaard won't be too pleased hearing this, as Schmeichel was the young Dane's boyhood hero. However, criticism of him should only want him to prove the critics wrong, and strive to become better. He has already uprooted the Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen as Danish number 1 after impressing at club level for Aalesunds, and will be hoping to do the same at United.

Disappointing Derby Day - City 0 - 0 United

After all of the build up, all of the talk, and all of the excitement churning in Manchester for the Manchester derby, it turned out to be the only goal-less game in the Premier League of the day.

"Tevez can win it on his own!" roared Joe Hart, "All talk!" cried Evra, "Chelsea will win the title!" screamed Roberto Mancini. If the build up was anything to go by, this game should have been one to remember, but unfortunately, it was the opposite to that.

The match fell victim of all of the hype. Much was expected of the clash of the Manchester clubs in what was expected to be a ferocious, controversy filled night - the closest we got to that was Rafael squaring up to Carlos Tevez - entertaining for a minute, but it is good football and goals we wanted to see.

Overall, United had the most possession of the ball, 53.4% to be precise, but could do very little with it. Likewise with City, when they had the ball, the United defence were too compact, and City players were not committed forward enough to mount to any real attacking threat.

Both teams had good periods where they pressurised the opposing defence, and kept the ball for long periods, but the stats don't lie, and with United having only 3 shots on target, while City had 2, you really didn't miss much if you did happen to skip the game.

United remain unbeaten this season, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson was disappointed with the draw

"City are very difficult to beat on their own ground and obviously they set their stall out," he told Sky Sports.

"I think there was too much tension for it to be kind of match people thought it would be. They set their stall out in the second half and made it very difficult for us.

"It's a decent result but we don't count draws away from home as the target before the game. Our target is to win the game and I think we had enough possession to do that

"Some of our football was good, we were good on the ball but we needed to create openings to win the match and we only really made two which was difficult."

Roberto Mancini on the other had was just happy his team improved on last seasons result.

"I think it was a difficult game for both teams. I think the result is correct but we improved from last year because we didn't concede a goal in the last minute.

"I wanted to win this game but sometimes it is better to draw than lose. We played the game to win, though."

Manchester United and Manchester City fans' heart rate would have been ever so slightly higher watching this game, but it was nothing compared to the 4 - 3 classic at Old Trafford last season, and the tense 0 - 1 win at City last year too. However for the neutral viewer, well, it wasn't great.

Luis Nani Goal for Portugal against Denmark

He has his critics, but the Portuguese and Manchester United winger can show glimpses of brilliance. This is one of them. Nani was playing for Portugal on international duty against Denmark. This was Nani's second goal of the game in a match that finished with Portugal winning 3 - 1.
Manchester United fans will be hoping he can continue in this form in the Premier League, to claw back the points dropped after a poor start to the Premier League campaign.

Manchester United & Arsenal do Battle for Dutch Goalkeeper.

The two biggest clubs in English football will go to battle with the objective of signing a player who would fill a current, or future troubling position of goalkeeper. This man is Maarten Stekelenburg.

The 28-year-old would, at Manchester United, be able to replace Edwin Van der Sar at the end of the current 2010/11 season, as it is widely thought that the veteran will retire at the age of 40 years. Sir Alex Ferguson has been delighted with his current goalkeeper, and even admitted that he should have signed Van der Sar earlier in his career. There is no suprise then, that the Scot will look for a similar replacement.

Both Stekelenburg and Van der Sar began their career at Ajax - the club where Stekelenburg currently plays - with around 165 appearances. During the 2006 World Cup, Stekelenburg was the understudy to Dutch number one, Van der Sar. However in the most recent of World Cup's, Stekelenburg was the number one goalkeeper, and helped them get to the final - conceding only five goals in the competition, however he ended up on the losing side as they lost to Spain.

They also both have a large frame - with Van der Sar standing at 6 foot 6 inches, while Stekelenburg stads at 6 foot five and a half.

A reliable goalkeeper is also just what Arsenal need at the moment. Almunia and Fabianski don't exactly ooze confidence and the fans support for them is slightly lacking, as they begged their team manager to buy a new goalkeeper through the summer. Unfortunately for the fans, and fortunately for the goalkeepers, their pleas fell on deaf ears, as Wenger seems to trust his blundering goalkeepers.

With a whole season for the two keepers to make bad mistakes, Wenger will most probably be looking for a new goalkeeper toa ppease his fans, and Stekelenburg is said to be on top of the Frenchmans list.

The Ajax coach Martin Jol dmitted that there was interest from the clubs in his goalkeeper, but that it was "not strange" for United and Arsenal to want to buy his number one.

Almunia will miss Arsenals next match, but will Arsenal miss him?

Arsenal will play Partizan Belgrade during the week, and the figure in their goal - to the relief of Arsenal fans will not be Manuel Almunia. That's the good news for you Arsenal fans - the only good news, because the goalkeeper to replace Almunia will be Fabianski.

Almunia will miss the match because he picked up an injury against West Brom on Saturday when he dived in at Odemwingies feet to give away a penalty. He saved the resulting penalty, but stayed true to his low standards with a blunder to allow a shot to bounce off of his arms (with the intention of preventing the goal of course!) and end up in his net, which what should have been a routine save.

Fabianski being the replacement may also give Arsenal fans a sick feeling in their stomach with mistakes and costly errors just around the corner for the Polish "stopper". Why Wenger didn't rip open his cheque-book and drive himself to the nearest football club (it doesn't matter where) and find himself a new goalkeeper in the summer is beyond me. Anyone would have done. Just someone. It's even more baffling when you consider that Arsenal recorded about £56 million of profits for last season. As well as being linked to a £30 million teenager from the Barcelona B-Team, Oriol Romeu, Wenger needed to get his priorities right instead of sticking with the keepers he has and disappointing the Arsenal fans that trust him so much.

Great Teams Need Great Goalkeepers. Joe Hart can Be Great.

Take a look at the winning teams from recent Premier League years. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal. All had reliable, trustworthy, established and confident goalkeepers. United had Schmeichel and now have Van Der Sar, Chelsea had, and still have Petr Cech when they won consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, and Arsenal had Jens Lehmann in their "Invincibles" team of 2004. Who was in goal in 1966 when England won the World Cup for the first and so far only (and possibly last) time? Gordon Banks - elected in a poll by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History Statistics) as the second best goalkeeper of the 20th Century.

 

Joe Hart is showing all of the qualities to become a top quality goalkeeper - on the same, and with his potential, possibly higher level as the goalkeepers listed above. His confidence brings so much to his game as well as others around him. He has bravery - to come out and put his body on the line for the good of the team. He has a great personality - one which shows his love of playing football - something which is rarely seen in modern football, with pressure often getting to players. And most importantly, he is reliable. His defenders know that he can catch the ball from crosses with conviction, and his reactions are second to none.

This can only mean good things for his team-mates. His defenders know how good he is, which gives them the confidence to push further forward, which, in turn, makes the midfielders push further forward, which helps to pressurise the opposition higher up the pitch. The defenders know that they can trust Hart. He lifts pressure off of his team-mates, which then helps them to play with more freedom.
Before Hart, the players couldn't do that. David James was known for his great reactions, but unfortunately, his erratic behaviour and often poor decision making too. This meant the players were always cautious and worried that a mistake could happen at any time, and they simply couldn't trust him.

The good thing is, that not only do the players trust Hart, but the manager, Capello, does as well.

"Roberto Mancini has chosen him for Manchester City and I have chosen him for the England team. He improved a lot last year when he played at Birmingham. That was really important. The two keepers we had who stayed with us [including Ben Foster] are in really good form."

England have struggled with goalkeepers for a while, with the last consistently good one in David Seaman. Have England found a long term successor? Is he a player who has the confidence and the right amount of arrogance to handle the pressure of being England Number One? Yes. And he's only 23.