Eric Steele, the former Manchester United goalkeeping coach, has opened up about David de Gea, talking about everything from why the club signed him to why his form dipped last season.
Steele has coached De Gea during the time when Sir Alex Ferguson was the head coach. They planned to bring in the former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper as they wanted a young goalkeeper to replace the legendary shot-stopper, Edwin van der Sar.
Since then the coaches have had a huge influence on the growth of our No.1 goalkeeper. David de Gea soon turned out to be the top five best goalkeepers in the world. He played his 200th game recently and his entire journey has been described by his former goalkeeping coach Eric Steele.
As reported by The Athletic, he said:
“The save against Kabak — there are not many goalkeepers who could make that one, who have that unbelievable extension of the arms added to his anticipation. He’s making the big saves when they matter on a regular basis. David’s dip corresponded with the fact that he wasn’t being challenged enough by Romero. Maybe United regretted not bringing Dean Henderson back off the loan a little earlier because De Gea lapsed a bit”
🧤 A 200th career clean sheet
🧤 5 saves from inside the boxA big night for David de Gea. 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/zo0vbTjWrH
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) December 11, 2021
“I never agreed with the way United played out with Maguire and Lindelof because it took away one of David’s best attributes: his unbelievable natural ability to pass accurately and distribute the ball over distance. He can hit a 40-yard ball more accurately than Maguire and Lindelof. I looked at some of his clips from his second year recently — the distribution was incredible.”
“It was part of the reason that we bought him, we wanted a young Van der Sar. Maybe that will change under Rangnick because he’s not a big lover of playing these short triangles and inviting pressure.”
“He’s more vocal now, on and off the field. You could hear how loud he was shouting in a full stadium like ‘Away!’ and, ‘Man on!’ I could remember teaching him, ‘Left shoulder!’ and, ‘Right shoulder!’ in English.”
This season, the Spanish shot-stopper has returned to his greatest form, with Ralf Rangnick officially acknowledging that he is the club’s number one. Only a few months ago, De Gea was linked with a move away from United, but he resisted the cries for him to be sold and has since excelled.
After his play slipped terribly last season, the former Atletico Madrid man found himself in a battle with Henderson for the number one slot. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, known for having favourites, was compelled to bench De Gea in order to give the young Englishman an opportunity to shine.
Henderson performed admirably well and appeared to be in a solid position to claim the number one slot until he returned this season and became ill. De Gea was keen to make the most of the situation and returned firing, giving the academy graduate no meaningful chance for the first few minutes after regaining his health.
With Ralf Rangnick’s arrival, David De Gea has got in more advantage as the German coach has preferred to start the in-form goalkeeper in the majority of the games.
Perhaps Rangnick will read Steele’s article and contemplate how to get even more out of De Gea, especially now that the season has reached its crunch point.
