De Gea’s the Special One
STAR KEEPER ABOUT TO MAKE SORT OF HISTORY JOSE DOESN’T WANT TO SEE
DAVID DE GEA is on course to make Manchester United history – and Jose Mourinho won’t be happy. United’s Spain international has established himself as the best goalkeeper in the world this season and is on course to become the first man to win his club’s Player of the Year award for a fourth time. But Mourinho is not a fan of his keeper picking up individual awards – for obvious reasons. One of the Portuguese’s observations when he was interviewed for the Old Trafford hot-seat by executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and members of the Glazer family in 2016 was that De Gea was about to win the Sir Matt Busby trophy for a third successive season since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. And, in Mourinho’s opinion, that meant the United No.1 was playing behind a team that was giving up too many chances.
Ander Herrera won the prize at the end of Mourinho’s first season, as United lifted the Europa League and FA Cup on their way back to the Champions League.
But despite the presence of bigmoney signings such as Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku, it is De Gea who has emerged as United’s most consistent performer this season.
His save to deny Sevilla’s Luis Muriel last month means Mourinho’s men will be favourites to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League when the Spaniards secondleg visit to Old Trafford next week.
De Gea shares the record for United Player of the Year awards with Cristiano Ronaldo. And further evidence of his influence on United’s return to the top four is he is also race leader for the Premier League’s Golden Gloves award given to the keeper with the most clean sheets.
It is an accolade De Gea has not received in any of his previous seven seasons since he moved to Manchester in an £18.9million deal from Atletico Madrid.
The 27-year-old has kept 15 clean sheets so far – two more than Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois.
De Gea admitted: “I would love to win it (the Golden Gloves). Not just this year, but every year.
“It’d be a trophy for my colleagues and all the lads, and in particular those in defence who protect you.”
United are confident they’ll keep De Gea for the peak years of his career, but hopes of him signing a new contract hinge on Real Madrid plans.
The European champions are long-term admirers of Spain’s first choice and saw a 2015 deadline day deal to sign him collapse when they ran out of time to file paperwork.