De Gea poised to make Premier League history
Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea could achieve another impressive individual milestone on Sunday, if selected against Leeds United.
Barring a late injury or bout of illness, the Spaniard is poised to become the first non-British player and goalkeeper to make 400 Premier League appearances for one club.
There are non-British footballers with more Premier League appearances than David, but they all tallied over 400 with a selection of clubs. That list includes Mark Schwarzer (514), Sylvain Distin (469), Brad Friedel (450), Shay Given (450), our own John O'Shea (445), Petr Cech (443), Jussi Jaaskelainen (436) and Richard Dunne (431).
While David is focused entirely on performing well against Leeds and helping the team to win three points, the achievement would clearly highlight his commendable longevity since joining United in 2011.
Furthermore, according to research shared by The Times on Friday, De Gea trails only Bert Trautmann (Manchester City from 1949 to 1963) and Bruce Grobbelaar (Liverpool from 1981 to 1994) for most games played for one club by a foreign goalkeeper in England's top division.
ALL-TIME PREMIER LEAGUE APPEARANCES
If selected by Erik ten Hag on Sunday, De Gea will join the ‘400 club’ and move alongside former United captain Gary Neville on the Premier League’s all-time appearances table.
Red Nev is 42nd on the list and is expected to be at Elland Road this weekend in his role as a Sky Sports pundit.
The Premier League's top 40 includes 11 former United players in Ashley Young (410), Nicky Butt (411), Andy Cole (414) Teddy Sheringham (418), O'Shea (445), Michael Carrick (481), Wayne Rooney (491), Paul Scholes (499), Rio Ferdinand (504), Phil Neville (505) and Ryan Giggs (632).
De Gea is currently second on United’s all-time clean sheets table and is currently two shy of equalling Peter Schmeichel’s long-standing record of 180.
David needs three more shut-outs to claim top spot and our fixture list will tell you it is possible in February, with matches coming up against Leeds, Barcelona (home and away), Leicester City and Newcastle United all coming up.
Line-ups for Leeds v United will be announced at 13:00 GMT on Sunday.