Champions League

DAVID DE GEA has a sideboard creaking with player of the year awards. But he doesn’t want another one.For him, it is a sign of having too much to do and not enough going on at the other end of the pitch.
De Gea holds the club’s player of the season award in 2018Credit: Getty – Contributor
De Gea was back to his shot-stopping best last seasonCredit: The Mega Agency
A point Jose Mourinho made when the keeper was voted Manchester United’s best for the fourth time in 2017-18.
De Gea said: “Yeah, totally agree! It’s good for me, of course! I love to win trophies but I totally agree with what he said.
“It must be a striker, a midfielder. That’s what needs to happen. For sure this season it’s going be another player or striker, for sure.”
De Gea had to be at his best again last season just to make sure the season wasn’t even worse or more ‘embarrassing’ as he describes it.
The Red Devils finished with their lowest Premier League points total and De Gea was quite outspoken in his criticism of the team.
He said: “For me, for everyone it was a very tough season, embarrassing sometimes. Some games were a mess, a disaster.
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All you need to know before you go for £100k prize pot
“So we should learn from last season that that cannot happen again because it was tough, it was painful to be there. We were not capable to win games and losing games 4-0 or 5-0, it was unacceptable.
“But sometimes you have to feel pain to get up and keep going.”
De Gea has been at the club 11 years now and has been regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world for periods of that time.
Yet the Spaniard has only one title medal to show for that to go with League Cup and FA Cup winners medals.
He has a Europa League winner medal from 2017 but didn’t play in that final.
When he did play in it two seasons ago it was his penalty miss in the final shoot-out against Villarreal that cost them.
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He said: “It was a bit strange to have to take the penalty but that happens in football sometimes.
“It’s difficult to win things, I think teams are improving a lot, football is very tough I think every team is very difficult to beat.
“I’ve been in lots of situations in the club where we don’t win as much as we want but I love the club, I hope in the years that are coming we will try to win something big for the club because I think we deserve it.”
Speaking to the media out here in Perth, De Gea was asked if he ever wonders how things might have turned out for him had his proposed transfer to Real Madrid on summer transfer deadline day in 2015 gone through.
A problem with a fax machine was all that was between him and a move to The Bernabeu. After all, Real have gone on to win four Champions Leagues and three titles since then.
But De Gea, 31, says: “Winning or not winning, just being in this club means more than winning trophies but of course, we want to win, we always want to win, but representing this club is bigger than any trophy.
“I’m just thinking about Manchester. It’s my home. I feel very good here. It’s a privilege, it’s an honour to be here in this club, it’s one of the best things in my life, to be a part of this club.”
Indeed the Spaniard, who has a year left on his contract with the option for a further year, would love to finish his career at Old Trafford but desperately wants more medals.
He said: “I would be really happy to be here for as long as they want because I want to be here for more years…
“If they let me stay here I will stay here, for sure. I’m really comfortable, really happy and hopefully, before I leave we can win something.
De Gea in action for United during their pre-season tourCredit: Getty
“One or two or three titles and, try to win the Champions League, try to fight for the Champions League as well, cups too. We have to fight for everything.
“A good point to start is to say like, ‘guys we cannot do the same as we did last season because it was a disaster’. I really hope we’re gonna play much better.”
The dominance of Manchester City and Liverpool at the minute makes that aspiration to win a title a big ask.
De Gea added: “Two or three teams are in a very good level, playing very well, very consistent, so we need to try to get closer to them.”
There is a genuine feeling within the United camp that under new boss Erik Ten Hag things will start to change for the better.
Three wins from three on the pre-season tour and scoring 11 goals in the process have certainly brought confidence back to the players.
De Gea said: “I feel good energy in the team, more positivity, more focus.
“We are really improving under the new manager, things are going really well, we are working really hard as a team, that’s the most important thing.
“He’s very intense, everything he says is fully focused, 100 per cent. In training, he brings new things, new thoughts, so we need to adapt to him.
“But we have shown already in these three games that we are pressing high, we win the ball, we want to keep the ball, dictate, we want to lead the game. So I think we are doing well, we are working really hard.”
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He agrees with team-mate Bruno Fernandes that the more disciplined approach of Ten Hag is what is needed.
He said: “I agree, we needed more culture, a better culture of football, of just thinking about football, nothing else.” More