Former Manchester United goalkeeper coach Emilio Alvarez fell on David De Gea and argues that the Spaniard’s “unfairness” was the main reason behind his decision to leave Old Trafford last September.
Alvarez coached De Gea at Atletico Madrid and was brought to Old Trafford by Jose Mourinho in 2016 to help convince the Spaniard to stay.
De Gea eventually signed a new contract with United last summer and Alvarez surprisingly left his role only a few months later.
But Alvarez claims that De Gea’s decision to split up with his agent, Jorge Mendes, during the final stages of the contract negotiations and to sign a new deal with United without telling him that it led to his departure.
“After almost three years with a lot of work and meetings with United to renew him and make him the highest paid player in the world, I learned that he had renewed himself behind me,” Alvarez said in an interview with AS.
‘Honestly, it seemed like a lack of loyalty. During the negotiations, he also had an argument with the person who had conducted all the talks to get paid what was paid.
‘And at the last minute, someone else got in the way. I insisted that I didn’t like it because it seemed unfair.
‘I asked David why he didn’t tell me anything and he said he was told not to say anything to anyone. This had an impact on me.
‘The way I understand my profession is that you can’t help someone develop if you don’t have total confidence with them and that’s why I decided to leave United.
‘It is not true that Manchester United has relieved me of my duties. In fact, once De Gea was renewed, United offered me an offer.
‘I was the one who asked to meet with the club to be able to tell them that I wanted to leave the club. It was during this meeting that he asked me to renew.
‘I told them I was going but not because I wanted to leave United. I wanted to stop training De Gea.
‘Besides being his mentor at Atlético Madrid, where I strongly supported him, I was the person who convinced him to sign for United. I was his right hand man in Manchester.
‘I came to United thanks to the excellent work of Jorge Mendes and because Mourinho wanted to sign me to help David develop and keep him at the club. At that moment, he wanted to leave United.
When asked how much influence he has had in persuading De Gea to sign a new deal, Alvarez replied: Well, all the credit goes to Jorge Mendes, who has done a tremendous job for several years, working day and night.
‘I added my little grain of sand. Solskjaer asked me every day to speak to Mendes to have David renewed.
‘The press asked for it every day and there was a lot of pressure. There was pressure to speak to David so that he would stay and listen to no other offers. Solskjaer was very worried. ‘
Alvarez also revealed that Jose Mourinho was responsible for leaving him as United goalkeeper coach after he was fired in December 2018.
‘I told him [Mourinho] that I was going with him but he told me to stay.
‘He didn’t know when he would work again and the best thing was that I stayed at United. David and his people asked me to stay and continue my work with him too. I have decided to remain faithful to my friendship and my commitment to him.
‘To date, United fans show their love for me online and sometimes write to me saying that De Gea hasn’t been the same since I left the club. I’m a football man and I don’t feel resentment. I continue the good times we shared, including the four titles that we won together. “
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