Manchester United appear to have turned a number of corners this season, but they risk going around in circles if they don't make the ruthless decisions they need to this summer.
Defeat in the FA Cup final to Man City was not the note they wanted to end on, though it might well do them some good in the long term if it pushes them closer to the uncomfortable changes that need to be made.
For all the improvements that Erik ten Hag has made, there are some things that are still beyond his control. He has taken this current set of players just about as far as they can go, and it is quite clear that some of them simply won't ever be good enough to make them title winners again.
Read more: Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa breaks silence on transfer links
United are well aware they need a world-class striker and another top-class midfielder this summer. After the weekend, they might have finally opened their eyes to the desperate need for an improvement in goal as well.
"I am sick of saying it. A top goalkeeper saves that," Roy Keane said at the weekend. "They get you over the line in big games and that could have been the difference today. They need a world-class goalkeeper and he isn't."
According to John Harrison, head of data science for goalkeeper.com, Ilkay Gundogan's second goal in the FA Cup final would be stopped 81 per cent of the time by Premier League quality 'keepers.
It is true that David de Gea remains one of the finest shot-stoppers in the world on his day, but those days are growing fewer and further between. He remains a glaring contradiction to the controlled style of play that his manager wants to implement.
There is a sense of tribalism around De Gea, just as there has been for the last four or five years. He is quite rightly regarded as one of the club's greatest ever in goal, but that doesn't mean he should get special treatment and be excused from the valid criticism of his obvious flaws.
This last season, he has been a problem as often as he has been a problem solver. You can guarantee it will be the same next season too if he remains the first-choice. There will be matches in which the Spaniard will make unexplainable saves and others in which he will make unexplainable mistakes.
Even in this latest campaign, which saw him win the Premier League Golden Glove, there were catastrophic mistakes throughout. In the second match of the season against Brentford, he conceded a tame shot from Josh Dasilva that research suggests should have been saved 96 percent of the time.
It was a similar story in defeat to West Ham as well, when De Gea made a mess of a low effort from Said Benrahma, which should have been saved 98 percent of the time.
It is unfair to pinpoint individuals as being the sole reason behind a defeat, and even with a more competent sweeper keeper in goal, it is hard to argue United would have won at Wembley.
However, criticism of his performance is made more pressing when compared with the impressive display from backup option Stefan Ortega at the other end of the pitch.
City don't only have one 'keeper perfectly aligned with Pep Guardiola's style of play; they have two. United still don't even have one.
De Gea conceded possession twelve times in the FA Cup final and finished with a pass completion rate of just 44 percent. Ortega managed 92 percent and set the tone for his side's commanding grip on the game.
If the goalkeepers are the embodiment of the City side, then De Gea is of the United side as well. A now-enigmatic player capable of both the world-class and the woeful.
The 32-year-old is on the verge of signing a new deal at United, with Ten Hag still a backer of his talents, though he has become well aware of his obvious flaws as well.
It's in stark contrast to Guardiola's treatment of Joe Hart when he first arrived in Manchester, a daring move that has since been vindicated by his team's success and, in particular, Ederson's presence in five Premier League title-winning squads.
It is difficult to envision United progressing to the next level while burdened by their own nostalgia-driven indulgence in De Gea and the necessity to brutally address the goalkeeping dynamic.
United must accept that they have already squeezed out more than enough service from their No.1 and that now is the perfect time for them to move on and finally revolutionise their style of play.
The issue for United is that signing a new elite goalkeeper is easier said than done in a summer when transfer funds are already at a premium and they have other obvious concerns to address.
It would cost a lot of money to sign someone like Diogo Costa, and any efforts to bring in a new custodian could be derailed by the difficulty of selling the injured Dean Henderson first.
Ten Hag might well need to weigh up which of his three major concerns can afford to be delayed for another year, and most would argue one more season of De Gea in goal is more favorable than another campaign without an elite striker or another creative midfielder.
Ten Hag has helped United move on from a lot of their previous transfer mistakes. He can't afford to set them back by making another of his own.
READ NEXT:
