Manchester United: Ferguson Stacks $27M on Reds with David De Gea

David De Gea is about to begin the formal talks that will make him Manchester United’s new No. 1—rolling the dice on one of the biggest and most expensive gambles of Alex Ferguson’s reign as manager.

The signings of Ashley Young and Phil Jones, while not guaranteed to be successful, still look almost risk-free compared to Ferguson’s decision to bring in a 20-year-old goalkeeper for $27M with only 57 La Liga appearances behind him.

As it happens, he is nicknamed by his Athletico Madrid team mates “Van de Gea” because of his apparent similarities to Edwin van der Sar, who is now enjoying retirement after six brilliant years at Old Trafford.

And his performances in helping Spain to the European Under 21 Championship final suggest that he is the real deal.

Yet Ferguson must surely be quietly praying that having spent six often disastrous and costly years trying to find a replacement for Peter Schmeichel following his 1999 departure, he will get Van der Sar’s successor right at the first time of asking.

If not, his plans to win a 13th Premier League title, far less go again for the Champions League with a reconstructed side may go up in smoke.

With Tomasz Kuszczak on his way out, he will only have Anders Lindgaard as backup to De Gea—and the great Schmiechel himself is not impressed at that prospect.

He declared when Lindegaard arrived in January from Aalesund for £3.5M that his fellow Dane was not ready for the demands of the Premier League.

He may be right. By the time Lindegaard signed for United he had made only 56 appearances for Aalesund in the Norway’s Tippeligaen—hardly the harshest baptism of fire for someone who is now 27 years of age.

By comparison, Schmeichel had already played 197 times in the Danish first division and was an established Danish international when he arrived from Brondby in 1991 and cost a mere $800,000.

De Gea, at least, has been playing at a far sharper end of the European spectrum and the season before last, after breaking into Athletico’s first team, made eight appearances in his side’s successful Europa League campaign that ended with the 2-1 final defeat of Fulham.

He also saved a penalty during his club’s 2-0 Super Cup win over Inter Milan.

De Gea, therefore, has the potential.

Then again, a certain Massimo Taibi was supposed to be the next great goalkeeper of world football as a direct replacement for Schmeichel when he signed from Venezia in 1999—he lasted only four, disastrous games, the $7M Italian leaving in shame having become known as “The Blind Venetian.”

So many tried and failed before Van der Sar, and even during the Dutchman’s time at Old Trafford, two far younger ‘keepers were offered the chance to replace the aging star.

Kuszczak was the first to fail and then came Ben Foster who took over from the then injured Van der Sar at the start of the 2009-10 season and was touted by Ferguson as the man who would be England’s goalkeeper for years to come.

He had a nightmare—plumbing depths almost to the level of the witless Taibi—and by last summer he was at Birmingham, although since his $9M sale he has shown he does, indeed, have high quality.

Yet young or older—Fabien Barthez was aged 28 and had just won the European championships with France when he signed in 2000—being Manchester United’s number one is usually a stressful business and how De Gea reacts to the pressures, both physical and mental, will determine his success or otherwise.

What’s more he can’t even speak English right now but he better start learning fast. Sign language is somewhat slow when the defence is under the gun.

So far, partly because De Gea insisted he would not complete any more until after his under 21 duties for his country were over, his transfer has been very much under the radar.

The arrivals of Jones and now Young—plus Ferguson’s continued pursuit of Wesley Sneijder—have been making the headlines.

De Gea, even after he has signed, will then have a decent holiday and Lindegaard will use United’s pre-season tour of America to try to steal his thunder.

There is no question, however, that De Gea is the new United No 1 in waiting.

Ferguson may want to close his eyes and cross his fingers on the day that the young Spaniard is given his first opportunity to prove that he really is the reincarnation of Van der Sar—or becomes just another in a long line of flops.