From Scapegoat to Savior: David De Gea's Rise To Manchester United Greatness

Signed from Atlético Madrid in 2011 for £18 million, the young, scruffy looking Spaniard had a huge task ahead of him. A record fee at the time, he was brought in to replace a club legend in Edwin Van Der Saar, a man who is one of Manchester United’s best ever goalkeepers; this is what the measuring stick would have to be for De Gea. After going through the wind & rain to prove he belongs at the club, De Gea has firmly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

Teething problems

To be blunt, De Gea’s opening weeks for the Red Devils were awful. He was targeted by physically imposing teams with crosses as the Spanish number 1 came off worse in many battles against aerially superior strikers such as Edin Dzeko, Andy Carroll & Shane Long to list a few. He regularly missed punches, spilled crosses & looked shaky. This chain of events saw many United fans turn on him & question their manager’s decision to sign him. Furthermore his debut in the community shield against Manchester City, his league debut against West Brom & Grant Hanley’s goal was all incidents that fueled the growing agenda against the youngster. It was partially unfair to judge him so early but he had to learn the hard way & he did show flashes of quality; his free kick save from (then opponent) Juan Mata was one of the highlight saves of the season. His amazing reflexes should glimpses of what he could become, all he needed was time.

In his second season in Manchester he looked significantly bulkier as his chest & arms looked more firm than in the season prior. He also displayed more confidence with his risky 1 v 1 take on against Mladen Petric acting as a prime example. In Europe he also showed some development as his two games against Real Madrid drew plaudits & also some admiration from Florentino Perez. As he recorded a second consecutive season with over 10 clean sheets, his role in the club’s 20 th league title echoed how much he’d come along since his error prone days. It was a monumental a year of him & with an even tougher year coming; he needed all the momentum he could get.