Anyone that has seen David de Gea in goals for Manchester United this season will hardly be surprised by the news that he is set to undergo surgery to fix an eye problem.
The young Spaniard with facial hair wispy enough to make Gary Neville blush has been dropped by Sir Alex Ferguson in favour of Anders Lindegaard in recent matches, paying the price for a series of high profile clangers in his first season in the Premier League.
According to The Guardian today, De Gea may have surgery on a long-standing eye problem at the end of the season, a problem that United were aware of when signing him from Atletico Madrid for big bucks in the summer.
The 21-year old is long-sighted and wears contacts lenses when he plays, having had to wear glasses for most of his life to date. He was going to have laser eye surgery done last year, but was told to wait for a year by his former club because he needed a stable prescription.
The paper reports that a full-time optometrist who works at United has recommended that De Gea receive treatment on the condition in an effort to improve his vision and eradicate the errors that have blighted his first season with the Red Devils.
At times, De Gea has looked capable of delivering on the vast potential that persuaded United to part with over £18 million for his services, but on other occasions he has looked like a bad cross between Massimo Taibi and Manuel Almunia, particularly when dealing with crosses.
If De Gea does undergo surgery, he is expected to do so in June as he is not believed to be in contention for a place in Spain’s Euro 2012 squad, but would be fit to return for the Olympics later in the summer.
Fergie still regards De Gea as his long-term number one and will be keeping his fingers crossed that the surgery triggers a transformation in the Spaniard’s fortunes.
An end to De Gea’s troubled times may finally be in sight.
