Spain boss Luis Enrique has explained why he didn’t call goalkeeper David De Gea to his latest squad.
In a press conference, Enrique revealed that De Gea was not in the squad because he didn’t suit their style of play.
Many modern goalkeepers are required to be able to play with the ball at their feet and be comfortable playing the ball under pressure but Enrique feels that De Gea has never been strong with this aspect, and this is why the Spaniard is not in the 23-man squad.
“De Gea is Spain’s best goalie by a distance” is only true if you analyze football by FIFA ratings and not by actually watching games.
Luis Enrique and just about everyone else can see it, apart from the Utd fans who are blinded by their nostalgia and clueless agendas. https://t.co/mtUnED7aEb
— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) March 18, 2022
De Gea has post-shot expected goals minus goals value of 10.6, meaning De Gea has prevented 10.6 more goals than the average goalkeeper would have been expected to concede this season.
Raya only has a value of 1.3 in this metric, while Sanchez has a value of 0.7 but both have been handed a call up by Enrique.
However, other metrics also show a lack of willingness to leave his box from De Gea, and his static positioning in relation to his preference to rely on his reflexes rather than sweeping ability have been a massive cause of debate among sections of the United fandom.
