Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper addresses Manchester United rumours
Mathew Ryan. Picture by PW Sporting Photography
Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan has played down the rumours linking him with a move to Manchester United.
Speculation in the national press last week linked Ryan with a move to Old Trafford if David De Gea moves on from United.
Ryan, who joined the Seagulls from Valencia in the summer of 2017, is under contract with Brighton until 2022 and says he loves being at the club.
Writing for PlayersVoice, Ryan said: "There was a report in one of the newspapers over here recently linking me with a move to Manchester United. That's just the industry we're in.
"Rumours float around all the time. If I'd actually played for every team I'd been linked with through the years, I would have represented Real Madrid, Liverpool and quite a few others by now!
"It's not something I think about, although it's hard to ignore it completely when all your family and friends are messaging you to see whether it's true.
"All I'll say is this: I love doing what I'm doing and where I'm doing it."
Ryan, who was named the PFA fans' player of the month for October after keeping clean sheets against West Ham, Newcastle and Wolves, also wrote about Albion's recent form.
He said: "Brighton is a special club. We won all three of our games in October and didn't concede a goal.
"After a few of those games Jose Izquierdo, who was also with me at Club Brugge, and a few of us would head down to our friend's restaurant, Franco's Osteria, and have a meal, a beer and share a few stories. You've got to enjoy those moments in football. Things can change in an instant.
"That's exactly what happened last week. I'd read a stat on the internet saying that I'd saved 17 straight shots in October for three clean sheets. Then we came up against Everton, who had three shots on target and scored three goals. I went from feeling on top of my game after being named the PFA fans' player-of-the-month to a 3-1 defeat. That's football. It's a great leveller.
"We went through a lot of those fluctuations last season. We'd have two or three good phases where the luck of the bounce would go our way followed by periods where we felt like we couldn't get a break.
"If you can explain why that happens, you'll probably end up coaching the biggest club in the world! Every team tries to do everything they can preparation-wise to give their players the best opportunity to perform, but that doesn't guarantee anything in terms of results."
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