With Edwin Van Der Sar retiring after Saturdays Champions League final when Man Utd face Barcelona at Wembley (what a way to bow out of the game!), United will need to replace the reliable Dutch stopper and it seems to be that they have found a near identical, if what comparatively unexperienced keeper in David De Gea.
De Gea is 2 inches shorter then Van Der Sar but a full 20 years younger, aged just 20. Although his name sounds Dutch, he is actually Spanish but hasn’t been capped at full senior level due to having Casillas and Valdes to compete with. He currently plays for Atletico Madrid, an under-performing Spanish club.
Watching some of the clips on him in action on YouTube, he does looks to be a great keeper and an excellent shot stopper. Alex Ferguson has stated that he is a very composed keeper, something which he has admired very much in Van Der Sar. Question marks have been raised however over the keepers experience level, with some wondering whether he is likely to transfer from his current role into the limelight at Old Trafford as seamlessly as many expect.
Van Der Sar has been the best Man United goalkeeper since Schmeichel retired, and without a doubt has been the first real replacement of the great Dane – the likes of Raimond Van Der Gouw, Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Roy Carroll, Ricardo, Tim Howard, Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak have all tried and failed. Arguably Ben Foster has been one of the better recent keepers but couldn’t wait for his chance so ended up joining Birmingham City where he’s gone on to prove himself as a top keeper.
I think that if United do opt for De Gea this summer, his age will be one of the biggest factors in Ferguson choosing to bring him to Old Trafford – and as stated with Van Der Sar, De Gea could be playing at the highest level for another 20 years, so theres plenty of time for him to grow into the role at United and to improve under the coaching staff.
Heres a video of David De Gea working his magic in La Liga. Unfortunately it seems that a lot of the footage of the keeper is taken during a match with Barcelona, where undoubtedly he played a blinder, but its a shame that theres not a wider range of footage available…
