Manchester United Transfer News: David De Gea Tells Team-Mates He's Staying

Things are going swimmingly for Manchester United at the moment. Louis van Gaal has brought an exciting buzz to Old Trafford, and after their 3-0 win over rivals Liverpool at the weekend—the team's sixth victory in succession—optimism has gripped the club.

The good news continues to flow for those associated with the Red Devils, with reports claiming on Wednesday that David de Gea has told friends he is willing to stay at the club.

According to Neil Custis of The Sun (subscription required) (via Nick Lustig of the Daily Star), the Spanish stopper will turn down any advances from Real Madrid to commit his future to United.

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The story was reported on the newspaper’s back page, as noted here by Nick Sutton of the BBC:

De Gea has been in sparkling form of late, compensating for what has often been a makeshift defensive setup for the Red Devils with some vital saves.

As we can see here courtesy of Sky Sports MNF, the United defence has made plenty of errors this season, but the Spaniard has been on hand to get them out of jail:

Former United defender Gary Neville—who has been a harsh critic of the 'keeper in the past— analysed De Gea’s recent development and hailed the improvements the former Atletico Madrid man has made to his game since his Premier League debut back in 2011, per Sky Sports:

"

We are now seeing a huge improvement in his game. He has always been a great shot stopper, he has been like that from day one.

However, there are four other areas where he has greatly improved his game, the first being dealing with crosses, which I still think is his main challenge.

This season there is a massive improvement on his intent. He is now catching and dominating. Incredibly, he has made just one punch, against Arsenal, all season.

"

Again, this improvement was emphasised by the statistics provided on the programme:

De Gea has 18 months remaining on his current deal, and that is something that will have been niggling at all associated with United in the early weeks of the season.

But the news that he is willing to stay at the club will come as a major boost, especially when you consider that, at just 24 years old, there’s still plenty of years left in him.

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It's hugely encouraging for United, especially when club captain Wayne Rooney already rates De Gea as the best goalkeeper on the planet, per the Red Devils' Twitter account:

That praise may well be a little mawkish, and Manuel Neuer—nominated for this year’s Ballon d’Or award—would certainly have something to say about that. But there’s little denying that because of the positive adjustments he has made in recent seasons, De Gea deserves to be considered among elite company.

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Anyway, after United took a chance on him at just 20 years of age, they deserve to reap the rewards of De Gea’s most prosperous years. After all, the club stood by him when he came in for swathes of criticism in the infancy of his United tenure and since he’s emerged from the other side; the rough and tumble nature of the Premier League has merely refined his goalkeeping aura.

Great sides down the years have typically possessed a top-class goalkeeper, and if United do have eyes for winning major honours soon, De Gea is going to be a critical cornerstone of that success.

The club has had some fine stoppers in years gone by, but if the Spaniard sticks around and expedites this team’s rise to further glories, he has the potential to go on to be considered among the likes of Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar. Maybe even the very best of the lot.