David De Gea: Manchester United's saviour between the sticks

De Gea has matured as a player

Manchester United have had a disaster of a season so far with many of their established stars failing to repay the faith David Moyes had in them during the start of the season. Long time United players like Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick have had seasons to forget but one player has remained consistent throughout the season. That player’s name is David De Gea. The young Spaniard has bailed United out on numerous occasions with his world class saves and has made almost no errors barring his horrendous performance against Sunderland in the Capital One Cup. De Gea has matured a lot since his first season and is finally becoming the world class goalkeeper he is destined to be.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson broke the British transfer record for a goalkeeper when he paid £17.8 million to Atletico Madrid for the stopper’s services back in 2011. The keeper didn’t exactly have a dream debut as he conceded 2 goals against rivals Manchester City in the Community Shield which United went on to win. That was only the beginning of the storm as De Gea was heavily criticized for his performances throughout the 2011-2012 season including the game against eventual title winners Manchester City who made him collect the ball from his net six times.

De Gea was understandably under pressure as adapting to the Premier League is difficult and replacing a legendary keeper like Edwin Van Der Sar is no easy task. In spite of that, De Gea still managed to put in some noteworthy performances in 2011 in the game against Chelsea and Stoke City where he pulled off some stunning saves.

The stopper put his nightmares of his debut season to rest when he dramatically improved during the 2012-2013 season and was one of the key players in Manchester United’s title success. David De Gea has 3 people to thank for his rise in English football. Former United goalkeeping coach Eric Steele for developing him further, former manager Sir Alex Ferguson for his unwavering support and himself for picking himself off the ground and changing his act for the better.

The goalkeeper finished last season 11 clean sheets with an average of 3.09 saves per goal along with an average of 2.54 saves per game. These figures may go down a bit this season but the teams defenders should take the blame for this. De Gea has been blameless for most of the goals scored past him this season which is a good thing as he was responsible for many goals in his debut season especially in the shocking 3-2 loss to Blackburn Rovers.

Many people thought that De Gea’s performance would slip again after Eric Steele left the club and David Moyes brought in his own backroom staff but they were wrong. New goalkeeping coach Chris Woods has done a brilliant job with David De Gea who looks better than ever this season. The Spaniard’s average claim success now stands at an astonishing 96% compared to last season’s 88% which shows how much he has developed under the new coach.

According to the stats, De Gea hasn’t dropped a single cross this season; which is amazing as crosses were one of his weak points during the start of his United career. De Gea’s skill in dealing with balls in the penalty area has been error free this season which shows how much he has improved in the past two years. The 23-year-old is the only keeper with a perfect record in this area.

The only thing lacking from the keeper’s game is his saves to shots ratio. De Gea currently has a 69.6% saves-to-shots ratio which is a bit disappointing compared to his debut season’s ratio of 77.9%. All that aside, 9 clean sheets in 27 games is not shabby considering how the rest of his team have been playing this season. The United defence has been a real let down this season and has failed the goalkeeper on many occasions.

De Gea is also an accomplished penalty saver and displayed his talents under pressure when he memorably saved future team mate Robin van Persie‘s penalty which would have taken the lead away from Manchester United when they crushed Arsenal 8-2 back in the 2011-2012 season.

The stopper has also done equally well for his country helping them win the Euro Under-17 Championship along with two Under-21 Championships with his performance between the poles. Spain’s first-choice keeper Iker Casillas will turn 32 in May and his deputies Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina will turn 33 and 32 respectively which is the twilight of a footballers career. De Gea is perfectly capable of taking up the mantle of Spain’s first choice keeper and could even captain La Roja in the future.

Its only a matter of time before De Gea become the world number 1 and goes down as one of the best goalkeepers to ever play for Manchester United.