When the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson announced the engagement of a certain David De Gea from Spanish club Athletico Madrid, not many Manchester United fans were openly enthusiastic. Edwin Van Der Sar had only just left the club and it was a Herculean task for anyone following his performances to replace him. After a dubious start to the first few months, De Gea won over all his critics with a breathtaking goalscoring performance.
David De Gea Biography
David De Gea is the goalkeeper of the Spanish national team and has worked for the Premier League club Manchester United and the Spanish national team.
David De Gea was born in Madrid on 7 November 1990 and grew up in Illescas. He began playing at the age of 13 when he joined the Spanish club Atletico Madrid.
De Gea made his way through the ranks and made his debut in the club’s senior squad in 2009. After being appointed the first-choice goalkeeper for Los Roji Blancos, De Gea helped the club win the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup in 2010.
During his time with Madrid, De Gea’s performance in the Atletico Madrid jersey has always been seen as the obvious successor to national team legend Iker Casillas.
His improved performances for Atletico attracted Manchester United and De Gea was signed for £18.9 million in 2011. The fee at the time was a British transfer record for a goalkeeper.
During his time with United, De Gea won a Premier League title, an FA Cup, a League Cup, and the UEFA Europa League. He had a stuttering start at United and was criticized by the press in his first season for his inability to control his penalty area. His rather thin stature did not do much to improve his plight.
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Nevertheless, he put the nervousness of his first season behind him by winning the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year three seasons in a row, becoming the first player to win the award three times in a row.
As a child, De Gea admired Manchester United’s former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, but he was compared to another United great, Edwin Van der Sar, the man he replaced at Old Trafford and who was often referred to as Van der Gea.
De Gea was part of the most controversial transfer business in the summer of 2015 and on 7 August 2015, when he was eliminated from the team at the opening match against Spurs by then manager Louis Van Gaal due to uncertainty about his future. After a summer of speculation on 31 August, the two teams agreed on a transfer fee of £29 million-plus Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
The transfer finally failed because the necessary documents were not submitted before the Spanish transfer window was closed. The failure of the transfer resulted in both clubs pointing the finger at the United hierarchy, with the United hierarchy blaming the failure of the deal on a faulty fax machine, while Madrid’s opponents blamed United for the conspiracy to break the deal and the deliberate late submission of the papers.
After the transfer debacle, on 11 September, De Gea signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United with the option of a further one-year extension, and the Spanish keeper has not looked back since.
David De Gea was captain of his national team at the under-21 age level from 2011 to 2013, debuted in the senior national team in 2014, and was selected for the World Cup the same year without appearing in Brazil. The tournament ended in a disaster for Spain. He was covered by his country 27 times.
Wife, Girlfriend
David De Gea is currently with the Spanish singer Edurne Garcia, the couple has no children together. She was born on 22 December 1985 in Madrid, the capital of Spain.
The couple seems to be a perfect match and there are no rumors about how their relationship is fair behind the eyes of the public. You often see them together at public events, much to the delight of their fans. In the future, the two celebrities will probably decide to do what we have been expecting them to do all along.
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Height and Body Measurement
The world of a goalkeeper is a big world, and David stands at an impressive height of 192 cm (6 ft. 4 inches). When he stands that high, he has the advantage of being able to dip in and cover every edge of the goalpost where a ball is shot. To achieve this, however, it must also be light. His bodyweight of 183 Ib (83 kg) is in no way an obstacle when he performs his duties for his club and his fellow countrymen.
Other Facts You Need to Know About David De Gea
- De Gea suffers from a condition known as hyperopia, a medical term for farsightedness.
- He was a roommate of Sergio Aguero from Manchester City when they were teammates at Atletico Madrid.
- His girlfriend Edurne represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna in 2015.
- De Gea almost signed for Wigan in 2010 when then Latics boss Roberto Martinez made an agreement with Atletico, but the deal finally failed on the last day.
- Believe it or not, De Gea was a productive striker at his school, which explains his ability as a goalkeeper on the ball.
- Aside from nearly joining Wigan in 2011, De Gea was also approached by West London’s QPR a year earlier when he was playing for Atletico B.