David De Gea breaks goalkeeper appearance record

After being selected to play between the sticks for our Premier League clash against West Ham on Sunday evening (19:00 BST), David completed his 540th Reds match, meaning he is now in a category of his own when it comes to goalkeepers.

The Spaniard levelled the previous record tally of matches played by a goalkeeper of 539, set by Stepney, in Thursday night’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion. Stepney, a European Cup winner with the Reds in 1968, spent 13 years at Old Trafford from 1966 to 1979.

Stepney retains the record for league appearances made by a Reds goalkeeper, with 433, although De Gea will have that accolade in his sights, too – with his outing at West Ham his 411th in the Premier League for United.

Across all playing positions, our no.1 now only has six men ahead of him in the all-time appearance rankings for the club – Ryan Giggs (963), Sir Bobby Charlton (758), Paul Scholes (718), Bill Foulkes (668), Gary Neville (602) and Wayne Rooney (559).

David first arrived in M16 in the summer of 2011, joining from Atletico Madrid, and has been a mainstay of our side since. He helped us to the Premier League title in his second season and has also won the FA Cup, Europa League, the EFL Cup (twice) and three Community Shields.

Despite a disappointing performance against the Hammers, De Gea is hoping to end his campaign with some individual recognition to show for 2022/23.

Our goalkeeper currently leads the Premier League golden glove rankings, with 15 clean sheets from 34 league appearances so far this term, which is two more than his closest competitors; Alisson (Liverpool) and Nick Pope (Newcastle), tied on 13.

Congratulations on a fantastic achievement, David!