David de Gea’s new haircut provokes strong reaction from Manchester United fans

"Get a haircut, Dave."

Imagine if social media was around when David Beckham was playing for Manchester United, as it was the former England captain caused a commotion when he changed his hairstyle, which was quite often. It angered Alex Ferguson to such an extent that the fracture in his relationship with the player can be traced to an incident when Beckham refused to remove his hat ahead of a match, because he had shaved his head and wanted to wait until kick-off to reveal his new cut. "Arriving at the training ground at 3 p.m. before a trip to Leicester City, I noticed the press lined up on the road into Carrington," Ferguson recounts in his second autobiography.

"There must have been 20 photographers. ‘What’s going on?’ I demanded. I was told, ‘Apparently Beckham is revealing his new haircut tomorrow.’ David turned up with a beanie hat on. At dinner that night he was still wearing it. ‘David, take your beanie hat off, you’re in a restaurant,’ I said. He refused. ‘Don’t be so stupid,’ I persisted. ‘Take it off.’ But he wouldn’t. So, I was raging."

Ferguson had enough and before kick-off demanded that Beckham removed his hat. The midfielder did so reluctantly, and the United manager began to tire of the media attention his player sought and commanded.

"The next day, the players were going out for the pre-match warm-up and David had his beanie hat on. ‘David,’ I said, ‘you’re not going out with that beanie hat on. You’ll not be playing. I’ll take you out of the team right now.’ He went berserk. Took it off. Bald head, completely shaved. I said, ‘Is that what this was all about? A shaved head that nobody was to see?’ The plan was that he would keep the beanie hat on and take it off just before kick-off. At that time I was starting to despair of him. I could see him being swallowed up by the media or publicity agents"

In the pre-social media age, Beckham's hairstyles garnered great attention, so one can only imagine the focus they would recieve if he played for United in 2017, and the frustration it would cause Ferguson. David de Gea doesn't seek or receive the level of attention Beckham did 17 years ago, but even he can't escape the spotlight when he decides to sport a new hairstyle. United released a video of the first-team training earlier this week, ahead of Saturday's lunchtime kick off against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Not a lot happens in the clip, and Mauricio Pochettino is unlikely to learn anything new about his opponents for their Premier League fixture...   https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/923510240766603264 However, in the final few seconds of the video, the camera focuses on De Gea as he warms up for training. The United goalkeeper has a new hairstyle, going from this swept back look: To a top knot. De Gea is the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment, so unless he dyes his hair blue and gets the Manchester City crest shaved into the side of his head, most, if not all, United fans couldn't care less. However, there were still some United supporters unimpressed with his new hairstyle, comparing it to those sported by Hector Bellerin and Gareth Bale. Ferguson probably wouldn't be a fan, but he'd appreciate De Gea not insisting on wearing a hat in training to prevent people getting a look at it before Saturday's match. https://twitter.com/Pogbessque/status/923882908418326528 https://twitter.com/blurt2kc/status/923804314954383360 https://twitter.com/abdiali50334403/status/923603533613686784 https://twitter.com/WhizzFutbol/status/923521570600923136 https://twitter.com/uncle_t_mufc/status/923525723717070848 https://twitter.com/tahuluk/status/923522412531949569 https://twitter.com/ConnorChilly/status/923514023370481664 https://twitter.com/JordyHensh07/status/923510595902730240 https://twitter.com/Uzzy7_/status/923511697574453248