The Spaniard, who left Old Trafford as a free agent this summer to make way for £47million signing Andre Onana, showed over the weekend how he was still close to the Manchester United captain, sharing a selfie of the pair embracing on Instagram.

De Gea and Fernandes continued to spend plenty of time together in the wake of Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday, as the Portuguese star shared a photograph of them enjoying coffee alongside his team-mates Victor Lindelof, Tom Heaton and Raphael Varane.

‘Coffee and friends, it’s always a good choice,’ Fernandes wrote on Instagram.

‘Brothers,’ De Gea replied with a love-heart emoji.

Tom Heaton, Raphael Varane, Bruno Fernandes, David de Gea and Victor Lindelof (left to right) met up for a ‘coffee and friends’ date after Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Sheffield United

Former team-mates De Gea and Fernandes posed for a selfie on Instagram over the weekend

There was no room at the table however for Onana, who has struggled to impress since his high-profile move from Italian giants Inter Milan.

De Gea called an end to his 12-year spell at Old Trafford in controversial circumstances, as the former Spanish international refused to take a drastic pay cut on his £375,000-a-week wages after months of lengthy negotiations with the club.

Erik ten Hag was keen to sign a goalkeeper who was more adept with his feet and thus De Gea announced his exit from Old Trafford, vowing to ‘seek a new challenge’.

Onana is already under significant pressure at Old Trafford after making a series of costly errors during the first few months of the season.

Ten Hag admitted ahead of the win at Bramall Lane that Onana has to ‘step up’ after a difficult start at Manchester United, but he backed the Cameroon goalkeeper to overcome his early problems.

Onana has been criticised for a series of shaky performances and hit a low in the Champions League tie against Bayern Munich last month when his costly blunder led to United’s defeat.

The club’s new goalkeeper Andre Onana has struggled for form since arriving from Inter Milan

Erik ten Hag urged the Cameroon stopper to ‘step up’ after making a catalogue of poor errors

Even when Ten Hag’s side snatched a dramatic win over Brentford a fortnight ago, the 27-year-old came under fire again for conceding Mathias Jensen’s opener.

In the initial Instagram post the goalkeeper had shared over the weekend, De Gea and Fernandes smiled while embracing and wearing matching shirts in the picture, captioned ‘together again’.

And several Manchester United supporters took the opportunity to implore De Gea to return in the wake of Onana’s poor run.

‘Come back in January,’ one fan eagerly wrote on Instagram.

Another added: ‘Yeeeeeees! Wish we had you guys back together at United!’

A third wrote: ‘Please come back to United Dave, we’re sorry, on behalf of everyone at United.’

Some fans instead saw the photograph as opportunity to criticise Onana.

De Gea left Manchester United in the summer, bringing an end to his 12-year spell at the club

Fernandes helped guide United to a 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday

‘You are better than Onana my friend,’ a fan wrote in the comments.

A second added: ‘I bet you are laughing about how rubbish Onana is aren’t you?’

Shortly after De Gea confirmed his exit on social media in the summer, Fernandes posted: ‘You deserved to say goodbye to the stadium with all the fans cheering you for all the beautiful memories.’

The Spaniard is yet to find a new club three months after confirming his Old Trafford exit.