“Sir Alex Ferguson could have got a better keeper”

Gordon Banks has cast his doubts over both Manchester United goalkeepers David De Gea and Anders Lindegaard, saying that Sir Alex will wish he had signed Joe Hart when he had the chance.

Sir Alex revealed last season that he could have signed Hart from Shrewsbury for peanuts early in the England #1’s career but passed on the Manchester City keeper.

Sir Alex is now rotating the position between David De Gea and Anders Lindegaard but neither has definitively grabbed the position and made it theirs.

It is often said a stable back line is one of the halmarks of a championship winning team so the fact Sir Alex is rotating his keepers doesn’t bode well, and the 1966 World Cup winning keeper believes it is an area of weakness in Sir Alex’s side:

‘I am not sure about the two keepers at United, not at all.

‘Sir Alex Ferguson could have got a better keeper than either of them.

‘I am sure he wishes he had signed Joe, who is the best English goalkeeper by a mile and could become the best in the world.

‘He is now making terrific saves for Manchester City, while these lads at United look as if they can let in important goals.

‘If you have a reliable goalkeeper, it makes the job of the back four so much easier. In my time, a manager always built his team on being strong at the back.

‘But when I see these lads playing for United, they don’t seem 100 per cent confident either with crosses or through-balls.

‘De Gea is a great shot-stopper, but when he comes for crosses and through-balls sometimes he is just miles off it. The striker gets there before him and these are mistakes that can easily result in goals. And, of course, any team are going to target a weakness like that.’