Manchester derby goalkeeper David de Gea

David de Gea is not expected to remain at Manchester United for a significant amount of time, according to Gary Neville, since Erik ten Hag intends to play out from the back.

Dean Henderson was sent to Nottingham Forest on loan because David de Gea was United's most consistent player throughout the previous season. As a result, de Gea maintained his position as the first-choice goalkeeper at Old Trafford following the arrival of Ten Hag in the summer.

The player, who is now 31 years old, has entered the final year of his current contract; nevertheless, the club retains the option to extend his deal for an additional year. It is now unknown whether Manchester United will take advantage of the option they have to keep him in Manchester for another season.

On Sunday afternoon, United fell to Manchester City in a match that ended with a score of 6-3, and the way in which they played was troubling.

Following losses to Brighton and Brentford in August, Ten Hag implemented a pragmatic approach, which was shown again at the Etihad. However, Neville does not feel that the Dutchman will be able to achieve this with De Gea playing goalkeeper for the team.

"We're seeing a lot less of it [counter-attacking football], it's becoming a lot less of a theory that can succeed in football," Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast. "It's becoming a lot less of a theory that can succeed in football." "When a team uses that strategy, it makes them look incredibly bad, negative, and like they have no idea what they're doing.

"It's possible that Manchester United were in this position at times during major games under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, when they had no other strategy in mind but sitting back and anticipating a counterattack from us. The results of games played using that style of football are becoming less favorable.

"There hasn't been a team that has won the Premier League in the last 15 or 20 years that hasn't dominated possession the majority of the time, with the exception of Leicester City. Leicester is the only team that fits this description. Not really anymore; instead, you need to be a very proactive team that is constantly pressing the opposition.

"To be fair to Erik ten Hag, he has stepped back at that point in the conversation. We looked at a graphic that showed that in their most recent four games, they only had 42% of the possession, but in the two games that they lost (to Brighton and Brentford), they had 62% of the possession. In addition, they had played more long balls.

"I believe he's had to take a step back in order to take a step forward, but we all know where Ten Hag wants to get this United team. He wants 75% possession of the ball, players who can handle the ball, defenders who can handle the ball, and the goalkeeper needs to be brilliant on the ball. 

"I suspect that David de Gea's career with Manchester United is going to be cut short by Ten Hag because he's going to be adamant that his philosophy of playing out from the back, playing those risky passes to the midfield that we see with Ederson all the time, that we no longer see as risky because they do it so well, is something that he's striving for and that he wants to get to," Ten Hag said. "It's something that we no longer see