The first incident that comes to our mind when you hear the word David de Gea is the ball slithering through his hands into the net, resulting in a shock victory for Watford.
It is the human psychology of recollecting a failure much faster than success. He will be remembered for that catastrophic incident for a long time irrespective of his success and accomplishments in the past. A rare dip in form brings the player into limelight faster than continued success between the sticks. The past achievements get buried once failure erupts and this is inevitable.
He will have to bounce back strongly to silence his critics and emerge victorious. Once the outstanding goalkeeper in the Premier League, David de Gea’s form for Manchester United is under scrutiny. He has made the most errors leading to goals since the start of last Premier League season. They struggled against second-string teams this season owing to De Gea’s costly errors. Any decline may be due to the burden on the former Atletico Madrid star’s shoulders while United have struggled since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013. But the world’s highest-paid goalkeeper would take solace from the fact that he has full backing from his manager.
He signed a 6-year contract worth £117 million when he was struggling for form and this contract signing is itself an indication of the support and confidence of the management in the Spaniard. Many, including his former manager Jose Mourinho, feels that he was fortunate to receive a phenomenal contract and have paid over the odds to secure his services.
But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feels that he is still the best goalkeeper in the world. His agility and technical levels are next to none. He can get down quickly to block low shots and is quick to get back up to make a second save. His huge character and mental strength helped him become one of the world’s best. To speak of his achievements, he jointly holds the record with Tim Krul and Vito Mannone for most saves in a Premier League match with 14 saves in a 3–1 win over Arsenal back in 2017.  He holds the record for 4 Matt Busby Player of the year awards and was the first to win the award for three consecutive seasons. Being awarded United’s Player of the Season going in four out of five years only underlines De Gea’s importance and the quality of his performances.
Solskjaer even admitted that he’ll face stiff competition from the rising Dane Henderson and Sergio Romero once Premier League resumes after the coronavirus lockdown. The spotlight will be firmly on De Gea after high-profile mistakes from a keeper that has seen his form drop off dramatically in the last couple of seasons, having been so impressive previously. The old warhorse has returned to square one and will have to start from scratch to prove his worth to the fans at Old Trafford. If the Red Devils are to drag themselves out of the mire that they find themselves in, they’ll need De Gea to rediscover his best form sooner rather than later.
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