De Gea is human, he needs support
When David De Gea arrived in Manchester as a young lad from Atletico Madrid almost a decade ago, very little people breathed him a lifeline of survival considering he wasn’t physically imposing, couldn’t command his backline and language was a problem in a new country.
Fast forward to almost a decade, Sir Alex Ferguson will sit in his Director’s box and afford a smile knowing he signed a very good player for the club at the time. The Spanish lad has gone on to make an enviable 300 appearances with the Red Devils, beating club legend Peter Schmeichel to that feat, I look at the other clubs and I’m like if De Gea had been there, he would have been tossed out of the ship long ago, Lukas Karius arrived at Liverpool with bundles of expectation but he was tossed out even before one could say jack in the last window, Kepa Arrizabalaga has also been linked with a move away to Valencia, because he can’t make the grade at Chelsea.
I hear people say, De Gea needs to be let go, they compare him to Allison Becker and Ederson Morales of Liverpool and Manchester City respectively and how they have effortlessly carried their respective clubs shoulder high but I say De Gea did it for four (4) straight years when Man Utd’s defense was out of sorts. I look at the respective backlines assembled by these units and I’m tempted to believe that, De Gea is being attacked for no potent reason, Liverpool have a world-class backline proven and tested (Arnold, Van Dijk, Matip, Robertson) a Champions winning side and recently crowned English Premier League Champions.
At 29-years the Spaniard should be at the peak of his career but considering the shift he has putting in over the last few years it’s understandable he has worked his socks for a team that has been in transition for so many years under different managers since the retirement of SAF.
A quick peek at the stats below shows that DeGea is never a goalkeeper in decline but needs support to get his aura of invincibility that made him one of the top goalkeepers some seasons past.
David de Gea – do the statistics support the negative views? (Premier League only)
Season Games Saves Save % Conceded Conceded per game
2011-12 29 102 77.9 29 1.00 13
2012-13 28 84 76.4 26 0.93 11
2013-14 37 99 69.3 43 1.16 12
2014-15 37 93 71.9 36 0.97 10
2015-16 34 83 71.1 33 0.97 15
2016-17 35 74 71.8 29 0.83 14
2017-18 37 115 80.3 28 0.76 18
2018-19 38 122 69.0 54 1.42 7
2019-20 36 91 72.2 35 0.97 12
There are numerous questions being asked about David De Gea, as to whether, the fat contract, he recently signed has made him comfortable, that he lacks strong competition from Romero or there’s more to it than meets the eye.?.
Whatever be the case, Dean Henderson is a budding talent still cutting his career into a perfect storyline. He needs a season or two to rival DeGea or even stake a claim for the number one spot at a big side of Manchester United’s caliber.
In the end, DeGea needs support than condemnation, he is only human after all.
