Date: 7th February 2012 at 11:07am
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Edwin van der Sar has urged David De Gea to stand up to the rigours of the Premier League and fulfil his talent.

De Gea was brought in during the summer as a replacement for the retired van der Sar, but has enjoyed mixed fortunes so far this season. Sharing the #1 spot with Anders Lindegaard, the young Spaniard was dropped following a weak display against Blackburn but has recently found himself back in the team.

On Sunday he was again the talk of the town following brilliant saves from a Juan Mata freekick and a Gary Cahill effort and now his predecessor has urged him to stand up to the pressure of the Premier League and of being United’s number 1:

“It’s always difficult if you’re coming into a new club and new league, especially the English one. It’s a very demanding one, can be a very tough one.

“He has to deal with that. They paid a lot of money for him and he has to come through that.”

Having seen Paul Scholes return last season, the Dutch stopper also took the time to dispelled any notion of a comeback.

“I was at Carrington and he (Scholes) was watching a training session and I said, ‘So, how do you like it?’.

“He said, ‘Not really. I miss it’. He was still there doing his work as an assistant coach with the reserve team so it was probably a little bit easier to get back in.

“I got a few text messages from friends saying, ‘What about you?’

“I’m quite happy at the moment. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

 

2 responses to “No Return For VDS, Urges De Gea To Come Good”

  1. RedDevils says:

    He’s young and he’s succeeding one of the the most legendary goal keepers of all time at one of the best clubs in the world…so it’s obvious that he’s under pressure. I know that the media, the rival fans and even some of our own fans are criticizing him on regular basis because of his gaffe’s etc but it’s quite unfair. Yes he came to United with the reputation of being the future spain no. 1 and since them has hasn’t been “excellent” but that doesn’t mean that he’s bad. His performance against Chelsea was commendable and some of his great performances this year have gone unnoticed because the media doesn’t like talking about them…they love talking about the games in which he committed mistakes! And there are some great footballers who started their career with an average or below average debut season and the best example is our captain Vidic. Vidic was not THAT great when he first came to OT but is now arguably the best centre back in the world…I bet…next season De gea will be back with the bang i have a strong belief that after the chelsea game he’s back in form!

  2. Andrew says:

    David De Gea was always going to have a difficult time. He was replacing a fantastic goalkeeper in Edwin van der Saar. We went from a goalkeeper with so much experience to a young player with fairly limited experience. Its a test for everyone to see if we can be patient enough with the kid. He has the potential to be a fantastic goalkeeper, but can we support him until he reaches that stage.

    Ferguson believes in this lad and I hope Eric Steele does as well. They both decided that De Gea was the man and hopefully their judgement will prove correct. He could go on and be one of the best goalkeepers in the world, but its more difficult waiting for a goalkeeper then it is for an outfield player to develop.

    He was better against Chelsea, but understandably he had nervous moments. He was not at fault for any goals and made two excellent saves as well. Liverpool is a massive test considering we just played them, and they have the threat of Carrol and other tall players. De Gea weakness is dealing with high balls and crosses. He doesn’t dominate his goal yet.

    We need to stick and support him because more mistake will occur. However if we believe in him and remain patient then we could have a great goalkeeper on our hands, the future number 1 for Spain possibly.