David de Gea addresses Manchester United decision to bench Raphael Varane vs Bournemouth

Raphael Varane started on the bench against Bournemouth with Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof starting at centre-back.

De Gea kept a clean sheet against Bournemouth (Image: MUTV)

David de Gea believes ‘it doesn’t matter’ who plays at centre-back for Manchester United after Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof recorded a clean sheet against Bournemouth, with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez on the bench.

Varane and Martinez have become Erik ten Hag’s first-choice centre-backs this season, but both made the World Cup final in Qatar with France and Argentina respectively, and thus returned to Manchester late for the domestic restart.

However, although Varane started against Nottingham Forest and Wolves, he was benched for the visit of Bournemouth to Old Trafford on Tuesday night, with Ten Hag handing Maguire and Lindelof opportunities to start instead.

De Gea has kept four consecutive clean sheets since the restart and he lauded Maguire and Lindelof after the 3-0 victory.

“Well I think at the end we conceded too many chances, but we controlled the first half very well, we scored a good goal from a free-kick and the first 40 minutes in the second half, we controlled the game, scored a second goal but suddenly we lost a bit of tempo in the game,” De Gea told MUTV.

“I think players felt a bit tired and they (Bournemouth) created a few chances, they have a good team. But I think we controlled the game and it was a big three points. It’s a great feeling [to get a clean sheet], the whole team deserved it, for example, we changed the centre-backs and they played really well, so it doesn’t matter who is playing.

“We have a great team, everyone is in the same direction, training 100 per cent, it’s great to see. It’s massive for us [to have strength in depth], everyone is ready to play and the substitutions today were also great, I feel really happy with all the players.”

Source: dailylifeworld.com