Sir Alex Ferguson has only missed three games in his 26 years at Manchester United. Once he missed a Manchester derby. Once to attend his son's wedding. Once to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law. The last time he missed a cup match against Skantor. That time he went to Spain to scout a young Atletico Madrid goalkeeper. That youngster was David De Gea.

If you think a goalkeeper needs to be scouted like that, you would think Sir Alex would have to. Because he knew firsthand that when he and United were successful, there were players like Schmeichel and Van der Sar, and that success was far from over with players who didn't fit in with the team. He had to change goalkeepers in the early stages of his coaching career, until he met Schmeichel.

He had to have the qualities he wanted in a goalkeeper. In particular, he had to be able to make sure he could catch the goal and lead the back line. He had to be able to kick the ball into the area he needed when he took the kick. That's what I mean. Later, kicks were less and less used. Usually, they were not used because they thought it would cause the ball to be lost. At one time, they used to kick. When taking a kick, they had to have a set area, a player who would receive it, who would catch the ball, who would receive the ball, and how they would build the game from there. In other words, they used to use it to get the ball directly into the attacking area, bypassing unnecessary lines. It was called "kicking".

Sir Alex liked De Gea and paid a lot of money for him. The price paid for a 19-year-old was high. Especially when he was also a goalkeeper. He was also small and not very tall, so it was doubtful whether he would be able to do it. The goalkeeper who retired before him was Edwin van der Sar. When he arrived in 2011, his defense was not good and he gave away only ordinary shots, which led to criticism from both him and Sir Alex.

In fact, Sir Alex was preparing to rebuild the team at that time and wanted to recruit young players. With success ahead of him, he had no problem taking the time to build another generation. Unfortunately, he retired before he could build such a generation. His own reason is to comfort his wife, who is grieving the death of her sister, but it also coincides with the arrival of Ed Woodward and other key players at the club, so only those close to him will know what the real reason is. Of course, he didn't get the Luka Modric and Gareth Bale he wanted, and he also lost Ronaldo, and other players are getting older. As Lewandowski recently said in an interview with Ferdinand, United tried to sign Lewandowski before Van Persie.

So De Gea is also one of Sir Alex's next generation players. But even Sir Alex himself was disappointed with his skills. Listen to him in the dressing room last time. You can't use him today. But you can't do anything. I'll use you in the next games. So he was just trying to improve. From the moment he saved Mata's free kick at Chelsea, De Gea's confidence, the team's confidence in him and Sir Alex's confidence grew. Later, he saved the team many times and won the hearts of the fans. In fact, Manchester United fans forgot that it was not a happy thing. There were many times when the change in United's results depended on the skill of a goalkeeper. De Gea won the United Player of the Year award in consecutive years. When the team was playing defensively and counter-attacking, the fans saw and relied on De Gea's skill. It must be said that he relied on it more than he should have.

He won the Premier League with Sir Alex Ferguson, but after Sir Alex Ferguson's time, De Gea's only major success was in the Europa League. His problem was that he was always quiet and unassuming, so he was not very good at shouting at the back. His body was too small to allow him to play crosses. Later, when the team moved towards a more possession-based game, and more goalkeepers were involved in the game, he had to leave. His parting with United was much more beautiful than this, but what happened is what happened. Fans will still be wary of his defensive choices.

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