Sky Sports’ Gary Neville has said Manchester United “unequivocally” need a new goalkeeper, following Altay Bayindir’s error that handed Arsenal a 1-0 win on Super Sunday.
Despite Ruben Amorim’s defence of his No. 2, Bayindir, who replaced absent first-choice Andre Onana, failed to stop a Declan Rice cross that was headed home by Riccardo Calafiori.
United’s improved attacking display could not overturn the early 13th-minute strike, with Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya earning Neville’s Player of the Match praise.
The match exposed the gap in goalkeeping quality between the two sides, and Neville insisted Amorim must act to strengthen the position.
On the Gary Neville Podcast, he said, “There’s a glaring issue that Man Utd cannot ignore and it is the fact they need to find a goalkeeper. They have to. I’m unequivocal on that because I had an experience with Man Utd for 20 years where there were two big periods of seven or eight years with Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar. In between, we had seven or eight goalkeepers in a six, seven, eight-year period and it is really unsettling when you haven’t got a dominant No 1, who is dominant in the air, who owns his six-yard box, comes and punches everything and makes a lot of saves to win you points when your defenders make mistakes.”
Neville added on potential reinforcements, “I don’t know where they are on PSR, but they might have to magic up a bit more money in the next week or two, or do something on loan. The two that have been mentioned in the last two weeks have been Emi Martinez and [Gianluigi] Donnarumma.”
Explaining why these options would suit United, he said, “The reason I think they would be good goalkeepers for Man Utd is not necessarily because they are the best goalkeepers in Europe, but they are big personalities and characters. You’ve seen Donnarumma in a European final save those penalties for Italy. He looked like a giant. He’s played for PSG in huge games under pressure. Martinez has played in the World Cup final and won it for Argentina. They have played under extreme pressure and they almost walk out with that arrogance and dominance of a goalkeeper – Man Utd need that.”
Neville stressed, “There are a number of things Man Utd need this season and Amorim is getting to that point now where he thinks he’s got a team that could do something.”