The Spaniard had a sad exit from United after 12 years of service and seems unwilling to move down a level after so long at the top
Where can you go after you have given your life to Manchester United? Nowhere at all, is the conclusion David de Gea seems to have come to.
Juan Mata is enjoying life in Japan and has won his second league title since leaving United in 2022 while Nemanja Matic, who left the same summer as Mata, is a regular starter for Rennes having spent last season playing under Jose Mourinho at Roma.
But De Gea, who is two years younger than both Mata and Matic, has been without a club since his sudden and sad departure from the Red Devils in June.
United had their reasons for not wanting to continue with a goalkeeper who struggled to cope with the ball-playing demands of modern elite football, and who appeared to be past his best at shot-stopping. But the manner of his exit, which came about after United withdrew their previous offer of a contract to him, left a bad taste.
Many players in a similar position might have been motivated to join a rival club and prove they could still perform at the highest level, but De Gea did not find a one that he fancied and has spent the last few months enjoying a different pace of life back in his home city of Madrid.
The former Spain international would seem an obvious choice to any top-level club looking for an experienced goalkeeper in the January transfer window. But will De Gea, who has spent so long playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world and earning one of the biggest salaries in the world, be interested?
GettyStill highly coveted
Despite not playing any games since the FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City, De Gea's stock is still high. He won the Golden Glove award for keeping the most clean sheets in the Premier League last season and made his share of crucial saves as United finished third and reached two domestic cup finals.
Many have wondered if the club would have been better off keeping him rather than signing £47 million (£59m) Andre Onana, who has made a series of clangers in his first season and was one of the main factors behind United's dismal Champions League campaign.
De Gea did make a few gaffes himself last season, most notably in the nightmare Europa League defeat at Sevilla, but for many years he was United's most important player, winning the club's Player of the Year award in 2021-22 for a joint-record fourth time. He was Spain's No.1 for more than four years and was coveted by Real Madrid in 2015, the move only blocked by botched paperwork on transfer deadline day.
De Gea received multiple offers and enquiries over the summer from top-ranking teams in Europe – including Inter Milan – as well as bottom-half sides, according to But he could not agree a move and was reluctant to play for a team competing at the lower end of a league.
AdvertisementGettyimagesMassive salary set him up for life
And one of the main stumbling blocks appears to be his salary demands. De Gea was deemed so important to United that they made him their highest-paid player in the summer of 2019 as he entered the final year of his contract, awarding him a stunning deal worth £375,000 ($474,000) per week. Cristiano Ronaldo usurped him as the top earner when he returned to United in 2021 but De Gea regained that status when the Portuguese left.
His salary dwarfed that of his contemporaries. Liverpool's No.1 Alisson Becker is reported to be on £200,000 ($255,000) per week, while Manchester City's Ederson is on £180,000 ($229,000) per week. He is thought to have earned almost triple that of Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois, nearly double Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen and slightly more than Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer.
De Gea was willing to listen to offers from other sides last summer but none of them came close to what he was earning at Old Trafford, which worked out at just shy of £20m ($25m) per year.
Effectively, De Gea earned enough from his final four years with United alone to set him and his family up for life. His singer wife Edurne is also a high-earning celebrity and a judge on television show Spain's Got Talent. In short, there is no financial motivation for De Gea to keep playing.
Getty ImagesEnjoying quality time at last
Instead, De Gea appears to have been enjoying his time away from football and is relishing living back in Spain, having moved to England at the age of 20 to sign for United from Atletico Madrid. He is also enjoying spending extended time with his family as his long-term partner Edurne, who he has been with for eight years and married last summer, opted to live in Madrid over Manchester due to her career commitments. She gave birth to their daughter in 2021 in Spain.
He has posted videos on Instagram of him in goalkeeping training and is reported to do four sessions per week so that he is in shape should the right offer arrive. But above all he seems to be enjoying his leisure time. He has been playing a lot of padel, the fast-growing racquet sport which is a hybrid of squash and tennis, and running his eSports team Rebels Gaming.
De Gea spent some time back in Manchester in October, going out to dinner with Bruno Fernandes and Sergio Reguilon as well as attending the United women's team match with Paris Saint-Germain. His sojourn in Manchester led to speculation he could return to United, but one of the main reasons he was back in England was to fulfil his obligations as a British taxpayer.
Getty ImagesEdging closer to retirement
While there is still a chance De Gea could return to playing after his hiatus as former Spain team-mate Isco has done with Real Betis, he appears to be sleepwalking towards retirement.
He has not made and public declarations about his future and has not given any interviews to media since leaving United. And he does not have an agent, cutting ties with Jorge Mendes in 2019, which limits his chances of finding a new club.
According to , he seriously considered retiring from football altogether last summer, and if he does not find a suitable club this January it seems unlikely he'd be able to return to playing after more than a year away from the game.
While United's other great goalkeepers Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar did not retire until they were 39 and 40 respectively, it seems increasingly likely that De Gea will hang up his gloves at the age of just 33.