“I expected him to make a contribution the minute he arrived at the club”

Football is a fickle game.

You can go from the headline maker to yesterday’s news in a blink of an eye, and players who are talked up are quickly brought crashing back down to earth after any indiscretion.

Case in point being David De Gea. The keeper joined United in the summer having to adapt to a new style and culture aged 20, it was inevitable there would be teething problems but the way his mistakes were blown out of proportion was ridiculous.

Labelled a flop, compared with Massimo Taibi and a frequent face on those god awful “Ten worst signings of the season” lists, you wouldn’t think this is the same keeper being fawned over by the press today.

De Gea has learned what is required of him in England and quickly made the changes needed, thus we are now seeing the quality that made Sir Alex splash £18m on him.

But whilst the press (and some fans) doubted some have always had faith in De Gea namely the man that made the decision to sign him, Sir Alex Ferguson:

“I expected him to make a contribution the minute he arrived at the club.

“Since he was a young kid, our homework on the lad has always been really positive.

“You can’t deny the performance level and ability of someone who can get into the Atletico Madrid team at 18 and win the Europa League.

“That is why we went for him.

“Even Peter Schmeichel found it difficult coming into the English game, and he was 27.

“David made mistakes but we forgive that at 21.”