Manchester United will have the pleasure of welcoming club legend, David de Gea who returns to Old Trafford with Fiorentina for a pre-season friendly on Saturday, Softfootball reports.
The Spaniard left the Red Devils after 12 years as the then manager, Erik Ten Hag preferred to sign Andre Onana from Inter Milan as United’s new number one.
Interestingly, during the preview for the match on Manchester United’s official club channel, de Gea was placed third in the all-time appearance ranking, only behind Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
It read:
“United’s all-time premier league appearances.
(1) Ryan Giggs – 632, (2) Paul Scholes – 499, (3) David de Gea – 415, (4) Gary Neville – 400, (5) Wayne Rooney – 393, (6) Roy Keane – 326, (7) Michael Carrick – 316, (8) Rio Ferdinand – 312, (9) Denis Irwin – 296, and (10) Marcus Rashford – 287.”
De Gea left Old Trafford joined Manchester United in 2011 from Atletico Madrid as a replacement for the legendary Edwin van der Sar. He endured a tough start to life as a United goalkeeper especially in his first game against Manchester City in the Community Shield which the Red Devils later won 3-2. But he grew to become renowned for his immense shot-stopping ability and quick reaction saves. At some point, he almost left Man United for Real Madrid but due to a fax error on deadline day the deal failed.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, De Gea was voted Premier League best goalie after keeping the most clean sheet in the competition but Ten Hag wanted a ball playing goalkeeper and made the club not renew his contract as he left to join La Viola.
De Gea actually waited for a year without a club before joining Fiorentina and it looked like he never was without football for that long as his form was impeccable.
The 34-year-old played a key role in Fiorentina’s UEFA Conference League final victory, notably in the penalty shootout. The jersey number 43 he wore, was the same number he wore when he won the Europa League with Atlético Madrid.
De Gea was also recognised as the sixth-best goalkeeper in Serie A for clean sheets last season and will go into the new season as Fiorentina’s undisputed number one goalkeeper.
If Fiorentina boss Stefano Pioli select De Gea on Saturday to face Manchester United, it would be the first time he is coming up against his former side since he left two years ago.
The match against Fiorentina will be Manchester United’s final preparatory game before their opening fixture in the premier league against Arsenal on August 17.
