David de Gea (Madrid, 1990) was all happiness a few months ago at Wembley. He won the League Cup with Manchester United, his first title in six years, and became the goalkeeper who had kept the most clean sheets in the club’s history, surpassing Peter Schmeichel. His career as a network devil was enhanced with another milestone. Except for specific errors, no one disputed its importance. He was already a legend who could look in the eyes of the best goalkeepers who had passed through the three sticks of the English entity.
The Spaniard’s performances and the individual awards endorsed his work. Two-time Premier Golden Glove winner (2018 and 2023). Four times chosen by the fans and teammates as the best on the team. Third goalkeeper with the most saves since the creation of the Premier (1,157) and seventh with the most games (415). Distinctions that did not serve to bring his renewal to fruition. On June 30, his contract expired, ending 12 seasons at Old Trafford. “It has been an unforgettable and successful period,” the Madrid native said goodbye to the Manchester team on social media, where he played 545 official matches, leaving a legacy of eight wins, among which the 2013 Premier League and the 2017 Europa League stand out.
“It is the right time to undertake a new challenge,” he added about his next step, yet to be finalized. Despite his great resume and his extensive career, also with Spain, capped 45 times, De Gea did not find a team last summer, probably due to his high cachet, which was only acceptable to a few clubs. Rumors have placed him in the economically tempting Saudi Arabia, in Betis, in Newcastle and even in Real Madrid, which due to Courtois’ injury tried his signing for the second time after the first attempt was frustrated by the famous fax in the 2015. Perhaps destiny will return him to what has been his home in recent years: the goal of the theater of dreams. Various British media have pointed out this option, and the Mancunian fans have asked for his return after seeing the irregular performance of his replacement, the Cameroonian André Onana, who will miss several games in January due to his participation in the African Cup. “Working hard,” De Gea expressed online, along with a training video, waiting to return to the fold of elite football.
Every morning Sergio Asenjo (Palencia, 1989) works out for an hour and a half in the gym with his personal trainer. In the afternoon, he continues with his preparation by running alone or cycling through Benicàssim, the town where he resides. At 34 years old and after leaving Valladolid last September, saying goodbye to the competition is not in the mind of this talented goalkeeper. On the contrary, he hopes for some opportunity in the winter market.
Goalkeeper with great reflexes, Asenjo has accumulated experience of 17 seasons in the elite, with more than 300 games in the First Division. In that time he has experienced practically everything. Worst of all, the knee injuries, as many as four, that stood in the way of her at her best.
He made his debut for Valladolid in the First Division at the age of 18 and it soon became clear that he was a goalkeeper with enormous potential. Atlético de Madrid signed him in 2009, but at the end of that season he suffered his first serious knee injury.
After years without continuity, he managed to relaunch his career at Villarreal in 2013. Two years later, and when he was a Zamora in the League and had been called up by the national team, he suffered his third major knee injury. He defended the goal of the Castellón team for nine seasons, in which he played a total of 228 games. His last season at the club, 2021-22, was the only one in which he was not a starter.
Last year he went to Valladolid, the team that gave him his first opportunity, but he did not achieve the desired continuity.
With his knees completely healthy, he now awaits an adventure, which could be the last, with which to close his career.
One of the great products of the Manchester United youth academy in the last decade, Jesse Lingard (Warrington, 1992), is another of the main attractions of the winter market. A versatile attacker who has shown for years at Old Trafford that he can take on the pressure of playing for a big team. The Achilles heel in recent times has been injuries, which is why Nottingham Forest, his last team, decided not to renew him.
Lingard’s fantastic emergence at Manchester United back in 2015 made people think of him as a player who would be a legend at the club. However, after a few years of great performance under Mourinho, his prominence was declining. The club decided to loan him to West Ham in January 2020, and Lingard, as talented as he was unpredictable, responded with an astonishing performance. In 16 games he scored nine goals. Upon his return to Old Trafford he did not count much for Ralf Rangnick, and the club did not renew him. In his eleven years in Manchester he played 232 games and scored 35 goals. With the English team he has played 32 games and scored six goals. After his time at Nottingham Forest, where he was the highest paid with a salary of 120,000 euros a week, this summer he trained with West Ham, who still seem interested in him, and in September he spent a month on trial at Al -Ittifaq from Saudi Arabia, team coached by Steven Gerrard. Despite impressing with his performance, the Saudi club was unable to hire him as they already had ten foreign players. A frustrating situation for a player with intact motivation.
The United States MLS appears to be the most favorable destination for him, although League teams have also shown interest in a player looking for another opportunity.
A total of 27 titles add luster to his spectacular resume, within the reach of very few in the history of football. Among his successes, nine Bundesliga titles (2013-21), two Champions Leagues (2013 and 2020) and a World Cup, won with Germany (2014), stand out. Jérôme Boateng (Berlin, 1988) has won everything in football. Throughout his career he has been a bulwark in the defense of Bayern Munich, despite the famous injury that Leo Messi gave him in the 2015 Champions League semi-finals. The German centre-back was an important piece in consolidating the hegemony in his country of the Bavarian team, the club of his life. Thomas Tuchel, the current Munich coach, had him on trial in the summer to assess his return, but his incorporation was finally ruled out.
Boateng left the discipline of the German champion in 2021 to try his fortune at the French Olympique Lyonnais, where he started the majority of games during his first year. On the other hand, in his second season with the team from the Rhône basin he went practically unnoticed, with only eight games played before the end of his contract last summer.
Furthermore, his last years have been clouded by the complaint of abuse filed by his ex-partner, with whom he has two daughters. After being sentenced to pay 1.2 million euros in November 2022, last September the Bavarian Supreme Court annulled the sentence and exonerated him from the fine. The case, however, remains open and will be retried at the Munich Provincial Court.
“I am clear that my career is not over yet. I can’t say exactly where I’ll play next, but I’m ready to do more. It will be in winter, I am convinced of that,” Boateng said recently.