Manchester United realized a change in David de Gea during pre-season
This season, David de Gea has recaptured the number one spot at Man United and has already made a number of crucial saves.
David de Gea restored confidence at Manchester United, according to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, by setting personal bests in pre-season physical testing.
De Gea has recovered his place as United's number one goalkeeper after Solskjaer heavily rotated the position between the Spaniard and Dean Henderson last season.
Henderson had been expected to start the new season for United, but he contracted Covid-19 in mid-July and was forced to sit out for a month.
De Gea, 30, was able to start the season, and he has already made a number of crucial stops in United's three away games, the most recent of which was denying Mark Noble a penalty in stoppage time against West Ham.
De Gea finished last season by losing all 11 penalty kicks he faced in the Europa League final shootout against Villarreal, before failing to convert the game-winning penalty. Last week, De Gea thwarted Noble, ending a record of 40 consecutive penalties.
"He did call me in the summer to end his summer holiday earlier and come back and start his pre-season before," Solskjaer said. "Because he wanted to be ready, he wanted to be the best possible version of himself.
"Last season was a challenging one for David as he didn't play as many games as he normally had done, that was because Dean came in and did very well. I'm fortunate I have those options, now Tom has come in as well.
"David has really worked, he's been so focused, physically and mentally he's better and when you feel that you've done the work, you get personal bests on quite a few physical tests, it gives you more confidence and more motivation.
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