Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has signed a new contract at the Old Trafford club after months of speculation. The 28-year-old will remain at the club until the summer of 2023, although there is the option of a further year to be added to the deal. The player will now be able to ignore any speculation to focus on United’s important season.
Sir Alex Ferguson signed the goalkeeper from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2011 and the player was tasked to replace Edwin van der Sar, who left the club that summer. It was not a perfect start for De Gea but Ferguson and his coaching staff stuck with him and he started to show signs of the goalkeeper he has become today.
During his time at United, although the last six years have been stop-start, De Gea has won one Premier League title, one Emirates FA Cup, one EFL Cup, three FA Community Shields and one UEFA Europa League trophy. In the past six years, De Gea has also been named the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year four times, which is a great achievement.
This is the best possible news for United at this stage of the rebuild, which will require as much stability in the squad as patience from the supporters. It is not going to be a quick or simple rebuild and will take a period of time in order for it to be perfected. Speaking to the official Manchester United website, De Gea said:
“It has been a privilege to spend eight years at this great club and the opportunity to continue my career at Manchester United is a genuine honour.
“Since I arrived here, I could never have imagined I would play over 350 games for this club. Now my future is fixed, all I want is to help this team achieve what I believe we can and win trophies again, together.
“As one of the senior players in the squad, I want to support and lead in any way that I can to assist the younger players, so they know what it means to play here.
“I still feel that I have so much more to achieve at the club and I truly believe that Manchester United can build on the club’s tradition of success and reward our fans for their support.
“I am committed to continue repaying the fans for all of the care that they’ve shown me during the good times and the bad.”
Obviously, there is a lot of positivity in the fact that De Gea still feels privileged to play for this great club. Spending eight years of his career at United already, aiming to spend up to five more years. To play as many matches as he has is an achievement also. Imagine what the team could achieve with the experience of De Gea, among others in the future.
United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also gave a statement about the news, which will be an exciting announcement for the Norwegian, who has ensured that the best goalkeeper at the club will remain for at least four more years. This will be important in the rebuild, adding a strong foundation, which also brings stability. Solskjaer said:
“I am delighted that David [De Gea] has committed his long-term future to the club. Over recent years, David has proved himself to be the best in the world and a vital part of our plans as we look to take Manchester United back to where it belongs.
“David is a fantastic person and his outstanding quality provides the perfect base to our defence. Over his time here, David has really understood the values of playing for Manchester United and now represents everything you want in a goalkeeper.
“As a player
, he is still hugely determined and hungry to achieve more. We all look forward to working together to meet those ambitions over the coming years.”
This will be an important month for United and De Gea with their return to the UEFA Europa League on Thursday with Kazakhstani side FC Astana heading to Old Trafford, days later with United heading down to London to face West Ham United in the Premier League, before welcoming Rochdale to the Theatre of Dreams in the Carabao Cup days later.
United will end September by welcoming Arsenal to Old Trafford, which is sure to be an embittered match. De Gea and his teammates will now be able to get ready for these fixtures in an important month before moving into October to do it all again. It is great to see De Gea commit to United as I thought he would have left in the summer. Come on UNITED!
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