UNITED SPECIAL United have been in safe hands for years – but who is the greatest of all?

DAVID de Gea’s stunning display against Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday has increased the debate over just who is United’s best keeper in the modern era.

So we asked our M.E.N. Sport experts for their views... I REMEMBER asking Edwin van der Sar about this last year and he said the next step for David de Gea was winning more trophies. And it would be a real shame if the Spaniard did not win the Premier League again or never lifted the Champions League at United.

For me, though, what makes De Gea so special is that he came through so much following that initial adjustment period in 2011 and has gone on to establish himself as the world’s best goalkeeper, despite having such an unsettled defence in front of him.

To put United’s turmoil into perspective, De Gea has worked with five different goalkeeping coaches under five different managers in that time – Eric Steele, Chris Woods, Frans Hoek, Silvino Louro and Emilio Alvarez – yet he has still bailed his side out time and time again.

De Gea still has more than a decade at the top so I can see him ultimately going down as United’s greatest ever No.1.

VERDICT: DE GEA IT has to be Peter Schmeichel for me. It felt like he revolutionised goalkeeping in England when he arrived at United and some of his saves stand the test of time as the greatest in Premier League history.

He was a fearsome weapon in Sir Alex Ferguson’s United teams and on the rare occasions when strikers did get through one-on-one, they were then confronted by the Dane, who was the master in those situations, with his giant frame intimidating opposing forwards.

His record of five Premier League titles, three FA Cups and the Champions League are in his favour as well. De Gea has time on his side to get close to Schmeichel, but the Dane is probably the greatest goalkeeper in Premier League history at the moment.

VERDICT: SCHMEICHEL than his predecessors too coming in at 37.50 per cent behind Schmeichel’s 44.40pc and Van der Sar’s 48.40pc but the biggest difference is that they each had worldclass defenders in front of them.

Schmeichel would be a close second for me in this debate but De Gea has to win it based on the number of games he has rescued for United. There’s a reason why he’s only missed out on the player of the year award once in the past five seasons.

VERDICT: DE GEA