Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has found himself in something of a predicament when it comes to his Manchester United team selection this season.
And if he’s not careful, he risks copying one of Jurgen Klopp ’s biggest mistakes from his time at Liverpool.
For nine seasons, David De Gea has been the undisputed number one goalkeeper at Old Trafford.
Signing from Atletico Madrid in 2011, he has been considered one of the best goalkeepers in both the Premier League and the world for the majority of his stay in Manchester, though his form has dropped considerably in recent years.
Previously linked with a return to Spain with Real Madrid on a repeated basis, a deal to the Bernabeu actually fell through in August 2015 with the Spaniard signing a new contract shortly afterwards before again extending his deal at the start of last season.
But despite being contracted to the Red Devils until June 2023, a number of high-profile mistakes have seen his position in the side questioned with club legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville both highly-critical of his performances at times.
And following the return of Dean Henderson after two years on loan at Sheffield United, De Gea’s place is under-threat more than it has ever been during his time in Manchester.
An ever-present for the Blades as they won promotion to the Premier League in 2019, the 23-year-old shone at Bramall Lane last year to help Chris Wilder’s side finish an impressive ninth in the table.
And despite interest to retain his services, Solskjaer opted to keep the shot-stopper at Old Trafford with Henderson signing a new long-term contract, reportedly worth over £100k-a-week, until 2025 in August.
Handed his England debut last month, his growing profile has left United with essentially two first-choice goalkeepers on their books, with both contracted for the foreseeable future.
De Gea remains Solskjaer’s first-choice goalkeeper, for now, but the Norwegian has started to rotate between the two.
Handed his Champions League debut away at Istanbul Basaksehir at the start of November, starting ahead of the Spaniard, Henderson was also picked ahead of his experienced team-mate on Thursday night as United won 3-2 away at Sheffield United.
And such a scenario is reminiscent of the situation Liverpool found themselves in 2016/17 and 2017/18 after Klopp signed Loris Karius to challenge Simon Mignolet.
The Reds boss intended for the German to be his first-choice keeper, only for a hand injury suffered in pre-season to leave him behind the Belgian come the start of the season.
Handed his opportunity in September 2016, Klopp confirmed Karius as first-choice the following month only to drop him come December following back-to-back errors against Bournemouth and West Ham, with Mignolet retaining his place for the remainder of the Premier League season.
With the Belgium international equally susceptible to making a mistake, Liverpool controversially rotated between the two during the first half of the 2017/18 season.
Mignolet started in the Premier League, while Karius was turned to during the Champions League group-stages before Klopp rotated between the again during that year’s festive period.
With his compatriot gradually eased back in come the New Year, Klopp reinstated Karius as first-choice both domestically and in Europe in 2018.
The only issue was both keepers were as suspect as each other, causing confusion in their backlines and both prone to mistakes.
While the arrival of Virgil van Dijk shored up Liverpool’s defence during the second half of that season, Klopp’s decision to favour Karius ultimately cost the Reds the biggest prize of all with the German saving his worst hour for the 2018 Champions League final.
Karius, who it was later revealed suffered a concussion, gifted Karim Benzema the cheapest of openers for Real Madrid in Kiev, before spilling a tame Gareth Bale effort over his line in a 3-1 defeat.
He hasn’t played for Liverpool since, with Alisson signed the following summer to rectify Klopp’s error, and the Reds going on to lift both the Champions League and Premier League with the Brazilian in goal.
But despite seeing goalkeeper rotation cause such chaos at Anfield, Solskjaer has shown signs of walking down the same path in the previous month by turning to Henderson.
For as much attention as there is on any De Gea mistake, the England international hasn’t exactly been the safest of hands.
Liverpool fans will remember his error which handed the Reds victory at Bramall Lane last year as he spilled a tame Gini Wijnaldum effort through his legs to hand Klopp’s side a 1-0 win.
Meanwhile, he was the man in goal when the United defence infamously went missing early on against Basaksehir to allow Demba Ba free run at their entire half to open the scoring.
But his worst moment in a United shirt so far came against his former club on Thursday night as he was caught in possession by Oliver Burke to gift David McGoldrick an easy tap-in for the opening goal.
Sure, United recovered to win 3-2 but it was hardly a reassuring sight for Solskjaer having opted to start the young keeper ahead of De Gea in the first place.
For now, the Spaniard is expected to remain as first-choice but rotation looks set to become part of the short-term goalkeeping future at Old Trafford.
And while neither shot-stopper will find themselves in a position to cost United a Champions League final this season, following their surprise group-stage exit, Solskjaer only needs look to Klopp’s own experiences at Liverpool with Mignolet and Karius to see such a stance is playing with fire.
