Manchester United Must Pull out All the Stops to Keep David de Gea

Louis van Gaal isn't fond of talking about individuals. He prefers, instead, to talk about the team, the collective effort and the philosophy. 

It is, after all, a team game, and not even the best players can do it on their own. The Dutchman believes the media prefer to focus on single performances because it makes for better headlines. He, however, will always insist it takes more than just one player having a good day to win a game.

But sometimes, a player is too good for even Van Gaal to ignore. And as long as David de Gea continues to play like he did against Liverpool, questions about his excellence will continue. 

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Asked in his post-match press conference on Sunday about a new contract for De Gea, the United manager seemed annoyed by the enquiry. But it's fast becoming a key issue among fans.

As he was making saves from Raheem Sterling and Mario Balotelli against Liverpool, there were suggestions on social media that United should just give him whatever he wants. One fan even urged the club to rename K Stand the "De Gea Stand." It's a measure of how high his stock is at the moment.

United's Player of the Year last season, he only seems to be getting better. He's made key saves against Everton, Arsenal, Stoke and Liverpool. United took 12 points from those games. Without the Spaniard, they might have only taken four, or maybe even fewer. 

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It's the difference between United sitting third in the table, eight points behind leaders Chelsea, and eighth, five points off the Champions League places. 

Van Gaal will tell you Robin van Persie's goals and Michael Carrick's calming influence in midfield and at the back have also aided the upturn in form over the last month. But it would be wrong to downplay De Gea's contribution just because it's so obvious.

There might come a time when De Gea wants to return home to Spain. It's only natural that, one day, he might want to be closer to his family and live in the country he grew up in. The warm weather, the lifestyle and the chance to play for Barcelona or Real Madrid might become too tempting. All United can do is put it off for as long as possible. And that means pulling out all the stops to keep him at Old Trafford.

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Next season, De Gea will enter the last year of his contract. It's a dangerous situation to be in when you've got a player in such high demand. 

Instead of looking for new players this January, keeping hold of one of the best they've already got should be the priority. It's as important to United as signing a new centre-back and another midfielder next summer. 

Van Gaal doesn't like talking about individual performances. Not with the media anyway. But it will not have escaped him just how well his goalkeeper is playing. Or how hard it would be to replace him.

It's time for United to give De Gea what he deserves. Before someone else does.