THE last time David de Gea – the best Manchester United performer in the post-Ferguson era – faced Chelsea, he made an error which led to a goal in a 1-1 draw. United had been the better team in the first half of the late April game, they took the lead in a game they had to win to keep Champions League hopes.
It was a rare bright half at the end of season midden, bright until Antonio Rudiger’s shot from 30 yards was spilled, allowing Marcos Alonso to equalise. It was his third error which had led to a goal in four games. He’d only made that many in the previous three years. Much like their season, United crumbled in the second half, though De Gea did stop Gonzalo Higuain from a stoppage-time winner.
It was one of several errors and it came in a season which started after a horrendous World Cup finals when he became public enemy number one in Spain for his poor form in Russia. The criticism was over the top and unfair, something he’s never had off his own club in England.
8 years of wearing this shirt with pride #mufc pic.twitter.com/qGjIOfHwNV
— David de Gea (@D_DeGea) August 7, 2019
He appreciates that and he’s got a decent relationship with Solskjaer who supported him after that Chelsea spill saying: “He’s for me been the best player United have had for the last six or seven years. He’s been absolutely outstanding – going through tough patches is part and parcel of the game." Fans certainly hope so. He used to be the least of their worries before his own slide in form.
Like his teammates, De Gea had come good under Solskjaer with his performance at in the win at Spurs the best individual one of the season. His goal was bombarded but he held out. In that glorious run he kept more clean sheets at against Newcastle, Leicester, Fulham and Liverpool.
And, like his teammates, his form slumped in the spring. The already less than spectacular opinion of him in Spain dropped some more when a weak shot from Lionel Messi squirmed under him in Camp Nou. Luis Enrique, his national team boss for most of last season, was always supportive.
“I’m very calm about him,” he said when asked if De Gea had faded, “he’s a top-level player, something he has shown in this game and throughout his years in England. Going by numbers and performances, he is world’s number one.”
Most saves in a Premier League match in 2017-18:
David De Gea v Arsenal away (14).Most saves in a Premier League match in 2018-19:
David De Gea v Spurs away (11).— Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 13, 2019
United fans care little for Spain, but can be assured that while he says almost nothing publicly, he’s in the right frame of mind ahead of this season and tells teammates he wants to be enjoying the celebration again like when United won the league in 2013.
De Gea’s working under goalkeeper goal Emiliano Alvarez, with whom he has a good relationship. He, in turn, works under the head of goalkeeping Richard. Alvarez was De Gea’s choice at Atletico Madrid until his £17.8 million move in 2011 – a British record for a goalkeeper and the best United transfer in a decade littered with poor buys.
In one of the few interviews about him, Alvarez noted how he had “mastered the key aspects of goalkeeping, the physical, the technical, the tactical and especially the psychological”. The pair are friends and socialise together in South Manchester.
De Gea’s fine with the other four United goalkeepers Sergio Romero, Joel Pereira, Lee Grant and Dean Henderson – though Romero thinks he deserves more games and described his lowest point at the club as being dropped after doing so well when De Gea’s mind was considered to be elsewhere in the summer of 2015 when he wanted to move to Madrid.
Pereira was considered a future United first team goalkeeper, while Henderson, who has gone on loan to play Premier League football with Sheffield United, is considered a future.
Welcome @HarryMaguire93 #MUFC
— David de Gea (@D_DeGea) August 5, 2019
United are confident that he will stay at the club and he’s long been offered a contract which will make him the best paid goalkeeper at the club. United stood by him when he was criticised after arriving from Spain and supported him when through his poor form last term, but unlike his two compatriots and close friends Juan Mata and Ander Herrera, he’s yet to commit either way to his future.
He’s expected to do that within weeks, but there have been other times when the club thought he was about to commit. With a contract for another two years, De Gea doesn’t need to sign yet, but he does need to rediscover his pre-slump form.
“If everything goes well, Manchester United will have a goalkeeper for the next 18 years,” his former goalkeeping coach Eric Steele, the man who scouted him as a 17-year-old in 2007, told me in 2011. Steele was attracted by De Gea’s feet as much as his hands. “They learn to play with their feet first,” says Steele of Spanish goalkeepers. “Most start as outfield players. When we do the possession sessions, David can handle the ball really well with his feet.”
De Gea still enjoys outfield stints in training as much as Wayne Rooney enjoyed being a goalkeeper, but after the mistakes at the end of last season, he’ll start this one under more scrutiny than any since he arrived.
