Manchester United’s past and present captains shared a selfie to social media on Sunday, as David de Gea and Bruno Fernandes reunited after the Red Devils’ 2-1 win over Sheffield United.
The Spaniard, who left Old Trafford as a free agent this summer to make way for £43million signing Andre Onana, took to Instagram to show he was still close to the current Red Devils skipper.
Captioning the photograph, ‘Together again’, he and Fernandes smiled while embracing and wearing matching shirts.
After lengthy contract negotiations with the club last season, De Gea decided not to take a drastic pay cut at Old Trafford and confirmed his exit to ‘seek a new challenge’, leaving the club after 12 years.
United had spent several months in negotiations with De Gea, whose 190 clean sheets are a club record, but ultimately Erik ten Hag wanted a goalkeeper who was more adept with his feet and thus moved for Onana in the summer.
David de Gea (left) and Bruno Fernandes (right) reunited while posing for a selfie on Instagram
De Gea left Manchester United in the summer, calling an end to his 12-year spell at the club
The club’s new goalkeeper Andre Onana has struggled for form since arriving from Inter Milan
Onana is already under significant pressure at Old Trafford after making a series of costly errors during the first few months of the season.
Ten Hag admitted ahead of the win at Bramall Lane that Onana has to ‘step up’ after a difficult start at Manchester United, but he backed the Cameroon goalkeeper to overcome his early problems.
Onana has been criticised for a series of shaky performances and hit a low in the Champions League tie against Bayern Munich last month when his costly blunder led to United’s defeat.
Even when Ten Hag’s side snatched a dramatic win over Brentford a fortnight ago, the 27-year-old came under fire again for conceding Mathias Jensen’s opener.
And several Manchester United supporters took the opportunity to implore De Gea to return in the wake of Onana’s poor run.
‘Come back in January,’ one fan eagerly wrote on Instagram.
Another added: ‘Yeeeeeees! Wish we had you guys back together at United!’
A third wrote: ‘Please come back to United Dave, we’re sorry, on behalf of everyone at United.’
Some fans instead saw the photograph as opportunity to criticise Onana.
Erik ten Hag urged the Cameroon stopper to ‘step up’ after making a catalogue of poor errors
Fernandes helped guide United to a 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday
‘You are better than Onana my friend,’ a fan wrote in the comments.
A second added: ‘I bet you are laughing about how rubbish Onana is aren’t you?’
Shortly after De Gea confirmed his exit on social media in the summer, Fernandes posted: ‘You deserved to say goodbye to the stadium with all the fans cheering you for all the beautiful memories.’
The Spaniard is still without a club heading into the January transfer window.
