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David de Gea 'will NOT go to the World Cup after missing out on Spain's 55-man provisional squad'

  /  autty

Manchester United's David de Gea will not go to the Qatar World Cup later this year after reportedly being left off Spain's 55-man provisional squad list.

Spanish boss Luis Enrique has submitted his preliminary list of players in contention to play at the tournament, which his final 26-man squad will be selected from.

Despite the large squad size, there is still no place for United's de Gea who has been overlooked for three other Premier League goalkeepers.

According to AS, Enrique has selected five different goalkeepers in the 55-man list but de Gea is not one of them.

The three goalkeepers expected to fly to Qatar are Athletic Bilbao's Unai Simón, Brighton's Robert Sánchez and Brentford's David Raya.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga and Getafe's David Soria have been chosen as back-ups in case of any injuries or illnesses prior to the tournament.

The former's inclusion in the squad may come as a surprise considering he has played half as many Premier League games this season compared to De Gea.

The only other known players that have made Spain's list are full-backs Alejandro Balde, Jordi Alba and Jose Gaya.

De Gea's omission will come as a surprise to some - given his long history playing for the national side - but his exclusion has been in the making for a number of years now.

He's not been in a Spain national squad since their 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Sweden in November last year where he was an unused substitute.

And you'd have to go back to two years to find De Gea's last start for Spain. He played the full 90 minutes as Enrique's side lost 1-0 to Ukraine in a Nations League match in 2020.

The 31-year-old came under criticism after the game with many suggesting that it was his positioning that allowed Viktor Tsygankov to score the winner on the night.

The national team may not be De Gea's only concerns in the near future with rumours suggesting Erik ten Hag is searching for a replacement for the Spaniard.

The United shotstopper is out of contract this summer and now there are question marks over whether or not United will renew his deal.

The club have been linked with the man who displaced de Gea in the national team - Bilbao's Simon - and Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa.

It is a bizarre situation given that De Gea has featured in all 15 games for United since ten Hag took over this summer.