Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand have agreed with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to start David De Gea over Dean Henderson in the Europa League final.
Henderson returned to Man United last summer after his loan spell at Sheffield United came to an end. He came in to compete with De Gea for the number one jersey at Old Trafford.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer kept faith with De Gea in the Premier League to begin with. But the Englishman got a run in the team towards the midway point of the campaign.
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De Gea has regained his place of late, though, and the Man United boss has started him against Villarreal in the Europa League final.
As cited by The Daily Star, Scholes insisted that it was the “right call” to go with De Gea:
“I think it’s the right call to go with the experience,” Scholes said.
“I thought De Gea was left out of the team at the right time, I thought it was the time to give Henderson a chance. Has he taken that chance? I’m not sure he has.
“In the first couple of games, he looked nice and safe, nice and controlled, since then he’s looked a little bit shaky to me. David coming back into the team, I think he’s been excellent.
“You think of the Roma game away. He could have easily conceded five or six goals, but he was brilliant on the night. I’m glad he’s playing, he’s still, I don’t know what Ole thinks, but I still think he’s the number one.”
Ferdinand then added that De Gea needed that “shock” of dropping to the bench so he could return to form:
“I think sometimes, at a point in your career, you need to be given a little shock.
“I think David De Gea fell out of form, and sometimes – no matter who you are – you can be player of the year four times in the last five or six years, so he was sitting pretty, he was almost untouchable.
“But then sometimes, your standard drops, you do need that shock.
“Get out of the team, sit down and watch, and then you regroup again. I think that’s what the situation with him was – and like Scholesy said, Henderson didn’t come in and grab the chance.”
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