MANCHESTER UNITED legends Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney have fired a warning to the club after their opening-day defeat.
Both legends didn’t hold back after Altay Bayindir’s howler gifted Arsenal a 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Shutterstock EditorialAltay Bayindir was largely impressive but his error led to the Arsenal goal[/caption]
GettyOnana has not impressed since joining the club two seasons ago from Inter Milan[/caption]
GettyItalian Gianluigi Donnarumma has been frozen out at PSG and would want a Prem move[/caption]
GettyVilla shot stopper Martinez has also been strongly linked to United[/caption]
The Turkish shot-stopper, surprisingly picked ahead of under-fire No. 1 Andre Onana, completely fluffed Declan Rice’s corner, allowing Riccardo Calafiori to nod in from point-blank range.
It was a tough pill to swallow after a much-improved display from Ruben Amorim‘s side against the Gunners.
Amorim tried to defend his stopper, insisting he was fouled when Arsenal stars attempted to block him in as the corner was taken.
But Neville and Rooney were far from impressed with Bayindir’s role in the goal – and told United to must act before the transfer window shuts.
Neville named Emiliano Martinez and Gianluigi Donnarumma as the two shot-stoppers who could finally bring some authority to United’s six-yard box.
Martinez – the World Cup winner and Villa’s no-nonsense No. 1 – was linked to Old Trafford earlier this summer, with a £40million price tag slapped on him by Villa Park chiefs.
Meanwhile, Donnarumma – frozen out at PSG by Luis Enrique – is desperate for a new home and is keen on a Premier League switch.
Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, Neville fumed:“There’s a glaring issue for Manchester United that can’t be ignored. They need to find a goalkeeper. They have to.”
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Neville says the revolving door of keepers since Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar has made United look like a circus at the back.
He added:“I’m absolutely unequivocal on that. I had an experience at United for 20 years, where we had big spells with [Peter] Schmeichel and [Edwin] van der Sar, and in between, we had seven or eight other goalkeepers.
What did we learn about Man Utd in Arsenal defeat?
MANCHESTER UNITED have splashed the cash this summer but that couldn’t prevent an opening day home loss to Arsenal.
Here are SunSport Manchester United reporter Martin Blackburn‘s key takeaways from the narrow 1-0 defeat vs the Gunners.
No 1 ISSUE
UNITED have been linked with Gianluigi Donnarumma and David de Gea in recent weeks, and surely they will sign a keeper before the window shuts.
Ruben Amorim has faith in Andre Onana — even if a lot of the fans do not — but he did not consider him ready to start here.
The Cameroonian has missed the whole of pre-season with a hamstring injury. So Altay Bayindir, who has played throughout the build-up to the season, got the nod — and ended up costing his team the game.
He should have been stronger under pressure from William Saliba and flapped a corner on to the head of Riccardo Calafiori.
Bayindir has had problems with set-pieces before.
Amorim and sporting director Jason Wilcox have two weeks to come up with a solution before the end of the transfer window.
NO GOALS — AGAIN
UNITED mustered just 44 goals in the Prem last season — and here they were starting with a blank again.
The Red Devils have spent £200million sprucing up their forward line this summer, and there were encouraging signs from Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
But new £74m centre-forward Benjamin Sesko stayed on the bench until the 65th minute.
On a couple of occasions before then there were crosses into the box but nobody there to put them away.
Amorim said on Friday he believes Sesko can be United’s No 9 for many years to come — and that is why they spent so heavily on him.
So it seemed a strange call to leave him on the bench for so long. Clearly the fans agreed as he was given a huge ovation when he arrived.
A couple of late half-chances went begging but the Slovenian did enough to show he will be a threat.
MIDFIELD STILL AN ISSUE
UNITED have abandoned their bid to land Carlos Baleba at least until next summer because of Brighton’s asking price.
There is an interest in Sporting’s Morten Hjulmand, while United are one of several clubs who admire Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace.
But there is a chance they will not sign another outfield player, and fans will be worried about the options in midfield.
Casemiro was excellent in Europe last season but did not have the same impact in Prem matches, while we are still waiting to see the best of Manuel Ugarte.
United are going to be more exciting to watch this season — that is clear already — but will they still have a soft centre?
“It’s really unsettling when you don’t have a really dominant No. 1. You need someone to own their six-yard box, to make a lot of saves, to come and punch everything, and save you points when your defenders make mistakes.
“That needs to be sorted, either with a permanent signing or a loan. The two that you look at that have been mentioned in the last few weeks are Martinez and Donnarumma.
“The reason I say those two would be good for United is not necessarily because they’re the two best goalkeepers in Europe, but they’ve got big personalities and characters.
It’s really unsettling when you don’t have a really dominant No. 1.
Gary Neville
“You’ve seen Donnarumma in a Euros final saving those penalties – he looked like a giant, and you’ve seen him play for PSG in huge games under pressure.
“We’ve seen Martinez play in World Cup finals. They’ve played under extreme pressure, and they can handle it.
“Man United need that, I think they need to sort the goalkeeper out because they will keep conceding goals and points, and it undermines what you’re doing.
“I’ve said it for years, you need personality, character, and stability in that position. I think United need to deal with it in the next couple of weeks.”
Rooney, speaking on his own podcast, echoed the need to bring in Donnarumma.
GettySunsport has been told United have had a look at former keeper De Gea this summer[/caption]
Both Rooney and Neville agree on the goalkeeping situation at the clubGetty
He said: “He (Donnarumma) is only 26, and he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
“I go back to when we had Roy Carroll and Tim Howard in goal and I don’t think there was 100% trust in them from the defenders.
“Van der Sar comes in and calms everything down and the defenders trust him a bit more.
“Onana has come in and he’s a fantastic goalkeeper but he certainly didn’t fill us with confidence last season.
“Donnarumma is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and it would be crazy if Man United don’t go for him.”
The goalkeeping issue is expected to dominate the headlines ahead of United’s visit to Fulham this weekend, with The Sun exclusively told that the club is looking at bringing David de Gea back to the club.
The Red Devils have been tipped off that the Spaniard, 34, has a clause in his deal at Fiorentina – allowing him to leave for a relatively small sum.
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