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Perhaps the greatest compliment we can pay to Sergio Romero's performances this season is that the Union of Reserve Goalkeepers will be extremely disappointed in him. True back-ups, heroes like Richard Wright and Massimo Piloni, spend their time sitting on the bench but avoiding all football, forever quivering in a state of unused readiness. Romero, a traitor to his people, has played and played well.
From a United perspective, this cuts both ways. The positives are obvious: Romero knows that his manager trusts him and has had regular opportunities to keep the rust from the joints. The thought of a David de Gea picking up a serious injury is a constant worry, but this season it hasn't quite been the apocalyptic prospect that it would have been last, when we all thought Romero was a buffoon with two left hands.
The negative? Well, it looks like we're in for another summer of "David de Gea to Real Madrid" fun, and United may not be able to rely on a deus ex faxmachina to bail them out this time. Given the internet's endless hunger for content, and given that the broad mass of humanity seem perfectly happy to feed that craving in exchange for thin dribbles of notoriety, somebody somewhere is going to say: "United don't need to buy a replacement, they've got Sergio Romero."
And they're going to mean it. And they're never going to be allowed to forget it. Do not be that person. Hot takes are dangerous, kids.
José Mourinho approval rating: A firm handshake with the right hand, and possibly a shoulder pat with the left. If it's a nice day.
Pre-Europa League final caveat: It looks like Romero's going to start. If he chucks one in, you never read this, and we never published it. Deal? Deal.