David de Gea hands Man Utd injury scare as he is forced off against Liverpool and walks straight down tunnel
DAVID DE GEA has dealt Manchester United a big injury scare after he walked straight down the tunnel during United’s game against Liverpool.
United are facing Liverpool in the first game of their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia.
Erik ten Hag picked a familiar starting xi for his first game in charge and saw his side blitz into a 3-0 lead over Jurgen Klopp’s FA Cup and Carabao winners.
However, United are now waiting to see what damage could have been dealt to De Gea after he signalled the bench to take him off.
De Gea was racing against Liverpool new-boy Darwin Nunez for a ball and seemed to tweak something in the process.
Back-up goalie Tom Heaton came on to replace him, but United will not want to be without their number one shot-stopper for too long.
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Should De Gea be ruled out for an extended length of time, they will have to get by with Heaton and academy stars Nathan Bishop and Matej Kovar.
Dean Henderson, who had taken the reigns of No1 off of De Gea’s gloves during the 2020/21 season when United finished second under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has been loaned out to Nottingham Forest.
Despite question marks over his distribution and sweeping ability last season, De Gea registered the second-best post-shot Expected goals rating of any Premier League goalkeeper, saving 6.7 more goals than an average keeper would have statistically.
United raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half to send fans crazy thanks to Jadon Sancho’s placed shot, Fred’s audacious chip and Anthony Martial’s composed finish.
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Youngster Facundo Pellistri put United four goals to the good in the second half despite Liverpool’s dominance after bringing on a host of their main starters.
United new-boy Tyrell Malacia also came off the bench for his debut.
Deals to bring in Lisandro Martinez and Frenkie de Jong remain in the pipeline, while CEO Richard Arnold also has to deal with the interest in wantaway talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.