Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been left ‘surprised’ after receiving a message from the head of the Spanish FA congratulating him on his international retirement, despite having yet to retire for his country.
De Gea had been a regular for his country since making his debut under Vincente del Bosque in June 2014.
The Manchester United star racked up 45 appearances from that point but has fallen out of favour under since Luis Enrique returned to the post in 2019.
His last appearance came for his country in October 2020 when he played 90 minutes in the 1-0 defeat to Ukraine.
Since that point he has been on the bench and then left out of the squad entirely, with his last call up seeing him sit on the bench for World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Sweden in November last year.
The Manchester United goalkeeper is not a part of the squad heading to Qatar this month, with Enrique going for Unai Simon, Robert Sanchez and David Raya as his three goalkeepers.
That decision raised eyebrows as it was, but it seems there has been even more controversy behind the scenes.
“De Gea has been a bit of a strange subject,” journalist Jose Alvarez told El Chiringuito.
“Suddenly he disappeared from the call ups a few months ago and Luis Enrique did call David to tell him he was not going to count on him. He told him that it was a technical decision. Obviously, David asked him what the reason was, but he was not given any further explanation.
“A few days later David receives a message from Rubiales, president of the Federation, who says ‘David I am glad that you have finally made the decision you have been thinking about. I have already been told that you are leaving the national team’.
“To this David replies ‘Sorry? There is no renunciation of anything, who has told you that I renounce anything? The coach has told me that he is not going to count on me, but I have never renounced the national team, nor do I intend to do so, that is if I am called up’.
“He was a bit surprised by the communication between Luis Enrique and Rubiales and the message that arrived from Rubiales afterwards.
“The last year and a half De Gea has been very good, being a protagonist for Manchester United in almost every game and he was seen as being a part of the three in the national team.
“I do not say he should be a starter, but he believed he could contribute apart from experience. He was a bit surprised that Rubiales sent him the message saying that he was going to resign from the national team or that he had made the decision after thinking about it, never mind congratulations for taking the decision.”
🇪🇸❌ ¿𝐏𝐨𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞́ 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐚 𝐢𝐝𝐨 𝐃𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐚 𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥?
🚨😯 La intrahistoria entre Luis Enrique, Rubiales y el portero, en exclusiva por @10JoseAlvarez. pic.twitter.com/EpuNnTXILm
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) November 17, 2022
