David de Gea has fuelled speculation that he could be about to make his long-awaited return to club football by posting an eye-catching message on social media.
The goalkeeper remains a free agent, having been released by Manchester United at the end of the 2022/23 season. The 33-year-old has been linked with several clubs over the past 10 months, but his wage demands after he pulled in £375,000-a-week at United have proven a stumbling block for interested clubs.
De Gea has an impressive CV which boasts 545 appearances for United over 12 years, as well as a Premier League title, an FA Cup, two Carabao Cups and the Europa League. But potential moves to Newcastle, after the injury to Nick Pope, and to Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia never materialised and De Gea remains training by himself.
Reports from Spain have recently been linked with a move to Real Betis and he has now followed that by posting a picture on Instagram of him training along with a Terminator GIF which reads: "I'll be back." De Gea appears to have been put through his paces at the home of National League side Altrincham Town, on the fringes of Manchester.
These kinds of posts are nothing new for De Gea, who has kept his 15.5million Instagram followers updated ever since leaving United at the end of June. It is clear that De Gea is desperate to return to club football and he is keen to show he remains fit and determined.
One of his training posts sparked a reply from former United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who wrote: “David, keep the faith and believe as I had something similar in 2001 and look what that brought me in the end!”
De Gea has been disheartened by his attempts to get back into the game, with reports in January suggesting that he had considered retirement. But the summer transfer window could bring fresh opportunities, with a move to the Saudi Pro League a likely avenue for the Spanish keeper.
He is still well regarded in the game, with Grame Souness recently suggesting that United were silly to let him leave and spend big on Andre Onana as a successor. “You need to prioritise,” he said on talkSPORT. “You have to try and strengthen where you really need players. Did they really, really need to spend that money on a goalkeeper when they had De Gea who was still a very good goalkeeper for Man United?
“De Gea was still a top goalkeeper. Every goalkeeper will make a mistake. They’ve spent £70m [£47.2m] on a new goalkeeper but are they really playing any differently now, just because Onana is better on the ball? That money should have been spent elsewhere and been more productive. The recruitment has been pretty average.”