DAVID DE GEA has well and truly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers on the planet.
Since joining Manchester United from Atletico Madrid in 2011, the Spaniard, now 27, De Gea has been the envy of all European giants.
In fact, time and time again, Real Madrid have come knocking, with United more than a little fortunate to cling onto the Spaniard for this long.
De Gea only appears to be getting better too, as his save percentage for the 2017-18 season so far is the highest-ever from a Premier League goalkeeper.
Incredibly, the United No1 has saved a whopping 81.6 per cent of all shots faced this term… a full 30 per cent higher than Joe Hart.
The West Ham stopper’s horrendous 51.6 per cent save-rate for this season is the worst-ever in the Premier League.
Back to De Gea though, the Spaniard has saved his team a hatful of goals this chance, epitomised by his truly spectacular double-save against Arsenal last month.
With that in mind, we take a look at how many goals he would save the rest of the Premier League, based on his 81.6 per cent save rate vs each side’s current stopper’s percentage.
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Believe it or not, De Gea would have saved Stoke an outrageous 24 goals this season alone – easily the most of all other 19 Prem sides.
Watford and West Ham would have been spared 21 goals apiece, with Huddersfield (18) and Bournemouth (17) not far behind.
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Everton, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Leicester, Southampton, West Brom, Swansea and Newcastle both crack double-figures in the charts, too.
Incredibly the two teams to benefit least from De Gea are Manchester City and Burnley – mostly thanks to Tom Heaton and Nick Pope’s heroics this term.
Despite that, even they would have saved a potentially crucial three goals had De Gea been between the sticks for them.
The only three other teams to not hit double figures with De Gea on the books would be Tottenham, Brighton and Chelsea, clearly demonstrating just how good the Spaniard is.
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