David de Gea: What now for Manchester United goalkeeper, Dean Henderson and Sergio Romero?

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Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea saw the return of something that seemed to have disappeared for a short while at least: a David de Gea howler.

The club's Project Restart campaign began with the goalkeeper failing to keep out a tame Steven Bergwijn effort against Tottenham, unleashing next level wrath from club legend Roy Keane in the Sky Sports studio.

It's just a shame Sunday's match was on the BBC, so there was no 'Roy Rant'.

Perhaps more worrying for United than De Gea's latest clanger is that he should have saved all three Chelsea goals at Wembley.

The second one from Mason Mount has taken the headlines because he made a total hash of it, but the problem is much deeper than that.

The result of his performance, other than Manchester United being out of the FA Cup and seeing their 20-match unbeaten run ended, is the return of scrutiny on his position as the undisputed number one at Old Trafford.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been steadfast in his commitment to De Gea, previously describing the Spain international as the best goalkeeper in the world.

In an effort to quash the story and focus on two huge matches that will decide whether United qualify for the Champions League via a top four finish, he's tried to brush over the wider crisis.

“We’ve just got to stick together, stay strong,” Solskjaer said in his press conference ahead of their penultimate Premier League match against West Ham on Wednesday.

“Now we’ve got two games to go and we’ve given ourselves a very good chance. This is not going to become a David De Gea press conference. We’re just going to stick together.

“We’ve got two games, so we’re just going to focus on that. David’s mentally strong enough to know that his job is to perform in training the next day and then be ready for the games.”

"It’s your job to talk about and write about – and my job is to prepare the team for West Ham and that’s what we’re doing.

“We’re just focusing on that one. We’re not going to talk about individuals because no one here is going to feel like we put more pressure on them.”

Only Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka has made more errors leading to goals than the United number one's four in the Premier League this season – and I’m talking about all players, not just keepers. The Spaniard finished third in the charts in 2018/19 too, costing his team four goals.

In the two previous seasons, De Gea made not a single error that led to a goal. The two campaigns before that saw one each term.

In October 2014, former Barcelona stalwart Victor Valdes arrived at Old Trafford for a spell of training and though he would ultimately sign, and then depart acrimoniously, he provided genuine competition. When Valdes fell out with the club, Sergio Romero, a veteran of almost 100 Argentina caps, was signed.

It’s absolutely no coincidence that De Gea’s form peaked during a time when he was not absolutely guaranteed the number one jersey. What has become clear in recent campaigns is that Romero is the number two, regardless of De Gea's form.

The effect of any healthy rivalry has long since disappeared.

Romero has superb stats between the sticks for Manchester United, much of which is down to the fact that he plays almost solely in the cup competitions. Which makes his omission for Sunday's match all the more galling.

I'm sure a shot-stopper of his stature, who has kept 38 clean sheets in 59 appearances and conceded just 26 goals, would have been bitterly disappointed to miss out. It was made even more surprising by the fact he did play in the quarter-final at Norwich only a couple of weeks prior.

Then of course there is Dean Henderson.

2019/20: Dean Henderson v David de Gea

• League games played: 35 | 36
• Goals conceded: 30 | 35
• Errors leading to goals: 1 | 3
• Penalties saved: 1 | 0
• Clean sheets: 13 | 12
• Shots saved: 96 | 91

There has been plenty said and written about how good the Manchester United keeper has been during his loan spell at Sheffield United, we wrote about at length during the shutdown, so I won't spend too much time on it.

Put simply, he has been a stand-out player in a newly-promoted side that boasts one of the best defensive records in this season's Premier League and will finish in the top 10.

If Romero is no longer even considered to be Manchester United's cup goalkeeper, then Henderson has surely been earmarked to provide genuine competition for the number one jersey. It could be just what's needed, because at the moment De Gea is fast becoming a liability.

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