Former Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich believes a technical flaw in David De Gea’s goalkeeping has led to a decline in the Spaniard’s performances over the last two seasons.

The Australian says he has noticed that the 29-year-old’s poor footwork means he is not setting himself properly for saving shots; something that happened when he tried to save Steven Bergwijn’s goal against Tottenham on Friday:

“The most important thing, and I am sure his goalkeeper coach would know this, from a technical point of view is that there is something wrong when he sets for shots. You saw it in that [Tottenham] goal.”

“As a goalkeeper, if you set for shots and your feet are outside the width of your shoulders you are going to have real problems because the natural reaction is then to go backwards when the shot is hit quite hard.”

“You have got no room to manoeuvre your feet and if you start going backwards as a goalkeeper and the ball hits you, invariably it is going to go in the back of the goal. So that is something that they definitely need to work on.”

It is interesting to hear a goalkeeper’s perspective following the harsh comments from Roy Keane and criticism from various other quarters.

De Gea is unlikely to be dropped by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer any time soon, with the shot-stopper having only signed a new four-year contract back in September, but he could be under pressure for his place at the start of next season.

As well as Sergio Romero, Dean Henderson will be returning from his loan spell at Sheffield United; a player Solskjaer has already described as a future United and England number one.