Is De Gea really under fire?

There has been some discussion of Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea being under pressure. He covered himself in no shining glory a few weeks ago with an error at White Hart Lane to effectively discard two minutes for the current Premier League leaders at the death.

Is his capability really being questioned by Sir Alex Ferguson? I highly doubt it. The player was signed for £20 million and if reports are too believed then his potential sell on value has increased somewhat since then and both La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid would welcome him back with open arms.

De Gea has made mistakes in his time at Old Trafford but there is not a blindness to see past this. His distribution is game changing and on very few can match his modern approach to keeping in this sense. His awareness to quickly start counter attacks is one which could prove invaluable to Manchester United in future years. A player under pressure I think not, this is a keeper ready to flourish for many years to come.

The Spaniard is young, but at Fulham this weekend showed he had the reflexes and shot stopping ability of a goalkeeper of any age. Those that are suggesting that because he has had to fight for his place with Lindegaard means he is not up to the task miss the point. He was signed for the long term future, not to be the instant finished package.

It is worth bearing this in mind before people wade in to criticise De Gea, they may want to be careful what they wish for as there would be several managers all too willing to fly him on a plane back to Spain.

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