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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
John McDougall

'Never thought they'd let you go' - Sergio Romero's verdict of David de Gea leaving Manchester United

Sergio Romero has paid tribute to David de Gea and believes his former team-mate will be up to whatever challenge comes his way after leaving Manchester United.

The 32-year-old confirmed he had officially left Old Trafford yesterday. The Spaniard's United contract expired at the end of June and, with no new deal agreed, De Gea has confirmed he will be moving on to pastures new this summer.

De Gea is now seeking a new club after 12 years at United with a lengthy spell which began when he was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson from Atletico Madrid in 2011. His time at Old Trafford comes to an end after 545 appearances and a trophy haul including the Premier League, FA Cup, two Carabao Cups and the Europa League.

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For a large part of De Gea's time there, Argentine Romero was with him in the goalkeeping department. Romero joined United on a free transfer in 2015 from Sampdoria after being brought to the club by Louis van Gaal.

At one stage that year, it looked like Romero could even be United's next number one with heavy speculation that De Gea was preparing to move to Real Madrid. The latter situation did not materialise, however, and Romero ended up largely being back-up to De Gea until his departure from United in 2021.

Romero has now reacted to the news De Gea has left United and admitted he never thought the Old Trafford club would let him leave. But he has put on record his thanks for how he was received by the Spaniard upon his arrival at United in 2015 and wished De Gea the best for his next challenge as he labelled his fellow goalkeeper a 'legend'.

Taking to Instagram, Romero wrote: "Never thought they'd let you go from M. U and I was going to write you a few words, but play:

"Grateful for how you received me from the first greeting there in the US and for the relationship and friendship we managed to form, it was 6 years in which we managed to work hard and have a lot of fun, because that is football, enjoy above the pressures!!!

"And in the middle we managed some cute little things that are reflected in some of the photos I leave here!!! New challenges are coming in the professional level and I'm sure you'll be up to it (as always Pa)!!!

"Thank you very much for always being there, greetings to the Flia!!! DDG LEGEND!!!"

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