The Man Between The Sticks- David De Gea

Starting off in the series of Goalkeepers under the hood of “Man between the Sticks”, is someone who is not a very well established stopper, yet has won many accolades. Lately, he has just tasted the bitter tests that await a player in professional football.

David De Gea of Manchester United

Early Life

David De Gea Quintana is the full name of the keeper, who landed in Manchester in the summer of 2011. He started his career at Atletico Madrid aged 10, and kept climbing the ladder of success with his home club.

David got his first big opportunity due to an injury to the team’s preferred goalkeeper. Though he eventually let in 2 goals in his debut match, it was a start to remember. Because of the long injury sustained by Madrid’s main goalkeeper, David kept getting chances and became the No. 1 GK of the team.

With Atletico Madrid, David won the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup against Inter Milan, where he saved a penalty from Diego Milito, Internazionale’s star striker during those days.

Arrival at Manchester

His fine performances caught the eye of Man Utd’s scouts , who were searching exhaustively for a quality goalkeeper as the Flying Dutchman of United, Edwin Van Der Sar, was ready to hang his gloves. He arrived at United amidst much speculation over the transfer fee. United shelled out as much as £17 million for a goalkeeper, which in itself was a British record.

With huge bucks riding on your shoulders, one may falter under the pressure. The same thing happened to David, whose condition was even worse as he was in a new country, away from home. To add to his dilemma, he had a big language barrier to cross. He did play in the pre-seasons games, but his first real test came when United played against the City in Community Shield. He was highly criticized as his mistakes gave City a good advantage of 2 goals by half-time.

United did come from behind and won the match 3-2, but fans thought David’s performance was just a minor blip. But things didn’t end here, as in his Premier League debut, he failed to save a very tame Shane Long effort. Things went out of control for fans, as they started showing no sympathy to the new-boy-in-town, and started questioning Sir Alex Ferguson’s choice.

The Fans Got What They Deserve

With David’s initial outings turned into tatters, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson kept his faith in the boy, who is as thin as a blind stick. And things started turning in his favor. David started carving out some great saves from nowhere, and started winning the fans over, making the critics boast about him, when they had earlier written him off.

His great moments can be listed as the penalty save against then Arsenal’s captain Van Persie, which could have cancelled out United’s 1-0 advantage. The athletic saves against Chelsea during his side’s 3-1 win, where he saved a shot from Ramires who was aiming at an empty net, and against the same side later, saving a last gasp free kick from Mata, when the ball was destined to go in.

David de Gea of Manchester United with an athletic save.

Even after many good performances, De Gea was still a boy who pulled out great saves, but had many weak points associated with his game.

Problems Are Still Present

David is largely criticized for his weakness against long balls or crosses. He was solely responsible for the third goal of Blackburn Rovers because of his same weakness. United lost the match 3-2, on New Year’s Eve and that too on Sir Alex Ferguson’s birthday. After that match, David was dropped from the squad but emerged again due to Anders Lindegaard’s injury. This time, making some steady improvements.

Many critics believe that David, no doubt, is a good stopper of the ball, but doesn’t deserve to be United’s main man between the sticks. His main weaknesses are long balls and a weak frame, which restricts him from muscling out players during set-pieces. Many still believe that United’s second position last season could have been even worse had David not provided his great goalkeeping skills. He still looks a bit vulnerable when his area gets crowded with opposition players, as it seems that he has no control over the area and will let in a goal any time.

But he is just a 22-year-old lad learning the nitty-gritty’s of English football. Amidst all the wrong headlines, De Gea ended his first season with the best shots-to-saves ratio in the Premier League. He was considered the second best keeper behind Joe Hart of Man City. I wish him all the luck as he tries to eradicate all the faults from his game.