De Gea grateful for 'intense' training

It’s almost a month since the German was appointed to the role but United have only played three games under him, with recent clashes against Brentford and Brighton postponed because of COVID-19 cases within the squad.

Almost everyone is now back working at Carrington after the training ground was shut for four days last week, with Rangnick revealing on Thursday that he had 25 outfield players at his disposal for Monday’s trip to St James’ Park.

De Gea is glad to see all his team-mates fit and ready once more and he is looking forward to putting Ralf’s ideas into practice on the pitch.

“It’s great. It’s good to have the whole team back to train properly altogether and then of course see they are all safe,” De Gea told club media.

“They are back, they are all training, they are fine so it’s great to be together again.

“We’ve been training hard, of course. It’s very intense, every training session, every moment with him [Rangnick] is intense,” added our no.1.

“You have to give 100 per cent every time in training and in the games. Let’s see. It’s just the beginning, it’s been a couple of weeks, so let’s see in the future.

“The team is training with energy, with pace, and now we have to show that in big games.”

David was named United’s Player of the Month at the end of a tough November and must surely be in with a shout for December’s award too.

The Spaniard has kept two clean sheets in three appearances during the month so far and was our standout performer during the narrow 1-0 win at Norwich.

De Gea acknowledges that it's vital to keep things tight at the back, because we have the firepower in attack to make a difference at the other end.

“Yeah, I think the most important thing for us is to keep clean sheets,” David continued.

“If we concede fewer goals, then we have top players up front who are going to score goals and win games.”