Why David de Gea is not the best young goalkeeper in Europe

It’s hardly been the most enjoyable season for Manchester United, but there has been one shining light among the dark clouds looming over Old Trafford – some of David De Gea’s performances this season have shown how much the 23-year-old has developed into a top-quality goalkeeper.

When the Spaniard moved to Manchester in 2011 the young shot-stopper had some big shoes to fill as he was drafted in to replace legendary goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. At the age of 20 he looked a major prospect, if lacking in the physical presence to cope with the demands of the Premier League.

Fast forward to this season and De Gea looks a more imposing figure in between the posts, and is buoyed by the confidence of having picked up a league winner’s medal last term. His performance during the 0-0 draw at Arsenal last Wednesday played a huge part in earning the Red Devils a point as he made some vital saves, including two top-drawer stops to deny Santi Cazorla.

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At the age of 23, he still has plenty of time to improve and become one of the world’s best, but he faces plenty of competition from young goalkeepers around Europe for that title.

Chelsea’s prodigious talent Thibaut Courtois, on loan at de Gea’s old club Atletico Madrid, is widely-touted as the best young goalkeeper there is. Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Bernd Leno, meanwhile, are lighting up the Bundesliga with some superb performances, while closer to home Wojciech Szczesny is a strong challenger for the best man between the posts in the whole Premier League, let alone one aged 23 or under.

In terms of saves made, De Gea and Szczesny lead the way among those five with 59 saves apiece in 26 matches but the United man has conceded five more than the Arsenal shot-stopper, while Szczesny has an impressive 12 clean sheets – almost one every other game – which matches the highly rated Courtois’ record (although the Belgian has played three matches fewer).

Looking at averages, the stats are not in De Gea’s favour. Out of the five goalkeepers his saves per goal ratio is the only one under two, which is a more telling statistic as that is mostly down to the goalkeeper rather than the defensive unit as a whole.

The Spaniard is also way down in terms of Squawka Performance Score, which not only shows a potential lack of consistency, but also demonstrates he is lacking quality in other aspects of his game.

One of those areas in which it would appear De Gea needs to work on is his distribution. A well-placed goal kick or quick throw forward has set many a Manchester United counter-attack in motion in the past, but De Gea’s distribution success of just 63 per cent is not up to the high standard required and is the joint-worst among the five young goalkeepers .

He has clearly improved his command over his own penalty area, however. When he comes to claiming a cross the defence can be pretty much certain he will make a catch or a clearing punch, as 96 per cent of his attempts to claim have been successful and the Spaniard averages just under 2.5 a game.

No-one can doubt De Gea’s ability, which has surfaced on several occasions for United since he joined, and he looks a suitable pretender to Iker Casillas’ throne as Spain’s number one. Sir Alex Ferguson’s eye for talent can rarely be questioned and the potential he saw in De Gea is plain for all to see now.

There is, of course, a wealth of young goalkeeping talent across Europe’s leagues, but these five are already plying their trade as the first-choice at their respective clubs, and comparisons with these top shot-stoppers show De Gea has plenty to work on to be considered the best young number one in the continent.