A STORY OF SHEER DETERMINATION, COMMITMENT AND TOUGH-LOVE REGIME FROM UNITED.
"He is an extraordinary goalkeeper, one of the best." Luis Muriel, the Sevilla striker, was still scratching his head in disbelief after David De Gea brilliantly kept out his point-blank header just before half-time in the Champions League stalemate between the two sides.
"Maybe I should have tried to place it but I went for power as I thought power would beat him but..." Muriel's words trailed off as he struggled to describe the man that time and again has proved Manchester United 's saviour.
So long the object of Real Madrid's affections, De Gea is content at United working with trusted coach Emiliano Alvarez and ready to commit for the longer term. Madrid want Spain's No 1 but know such a pursuit is futile and will concentrate on another instead.
"There's no way the club will want to let him go," said former United captain and club ambassador Bryan Robson.
"I was in line with his save against Sevilla last night. The speed that he moved to keep out the header... Wow!!With most keepers that would have been in the net before they had even started thinking of moving. His reflexes are fantastic. He's a giant among keepers now, I think he's the best around."
Describing De Gea as a 'giant' seems a huge step from the day Robson and Manchester United's staff watched a tall but frail teenager being ushered through the club training ground doors in 2011, hailed as the successor to Edwin Van der Sar. Rio Ferdinand and Co feared the worst.
His off-field habits didn't help. He didn't train as well as coach Eric Steele wanted, he'd sleep up to three times a day, was considered 'lazy' in his approach to learning English, so crucial to communicating with his defence, ate the wrong foods - 'too many tacos' - and ate late at night.
Inevitably, his size made him a physical target for the opposition. He was considered weak, he wore contact lenses and when the mistakes came so did the criticism, eventually costing him his place to Anders Lindegaard.
"English football is different, especially for a goalkeeper," De Gea said at the time. "It's more aggressive, more physical. It's far, far harder. The ball is in the air more and you get pushed about. And the referees don't blow [for] anything!"
"The opposition targeted him," said Robson. "They stood on his toes, underneath the crossbar, put him under pressure and it wasn't easy but he came through it and it's been the making of him. I don't think he'd be the keeper he is today if hadn't come to England."
De Gea took plenty of blows in those days. Indeed, Steele invariably force-fed De Gea protein drinks to build him up. United put him on gym routines to improve his strength and he added five kilos of muscle.
"One issue with him was that he was just 71 kilos (11 stone). We worked with him on and off the field to make him more powerful. We changed his lifestyle. He would finish training and want to go home. When I told him to come back in the afternoon he'd ask: 'Why?'
"We pushed protein drinks on him straight after training. We physically made him drink. We had him in the gym a lot. He hated it. They don't do the gym in Spain as much. We needed to build his core strength."
"I told him he needed to train better, that he was on show every day. There were times in his first season when he trained poorly. I told him that players made decisions for managers, not the other way around. That he should be first, not last out for training."
After four games on the substitutes’ bench, De Gea was recalled to the United side. He seized his chance. United drew 3-3 in a pulsating game with Chelsea but the Spaniard produced a number of important saves.
It helped rebuild his confidence and from that moment De Gea hasn't looked back. United would win the next eight games with De Gea between the posts. He was transformed – collecting crosses with authority and putting his body in dangerous areas when required.
"David has stood up as a man," Ferguson said at the time. "He got a grip of it, he didn't let it get to him and the boy has improved every game.
"The area in which he had been criticised was aerial balls in the box and, if you watch the Blackburn game, the last corner-kick, he should have dealt with that."
"He knew that and he’s addressed that situation, so there's a great improvement there. Now he's playing with confidence and confidence is a great factor in English football. He's shown fantastic improvement."
Barring another short spell on the bench the following season, De Gea has since been United's undisputed No 1. He collected a Premier League winner's medal in Ferguson's final season, 2012/13, but it was the following campaign in which his talent was finally recognised.
United appointed David Moyes following Ferguson's retirement. It proved to be the wrong decision but the Red Devils' failings meant De Gea was busier than ever before. There were games in which he single-handedly earned United points. His talents were finally recognised and at the end of the 2013-14 campaign he was named Manchester United Player of the Year.
Over the next two seasons, he'd retain the accolade. United's struggles enabled De Gea to shine, although he would've undoubtedly preferred to be in the shadows of a side competing for honours.
It's why in the summer of 2015 his time at Old Trafford was set to come to an end. Real Madrid wanted the goalkeeper and he wanted a move to the Bernabeu. Given United's performances under David Moyes and then Louis Van Gaal, it's difficult to criticise his desire to depart.
The transfer saga dragged on all summer and wasn't resolved until transfer deadline day. Deal was finally struck with the clock ticking Real would sign De Gea for £29million with Keylor Navas heading to Old Trafford.
But the clock struck 11pm and there was no word of the move being completed. The minutes and then hours ticked by without confirmation. News then emerged the deal was off. Real Madrid released a statement blaming United for failing to fax over the correct paperwork.
There was a swift response from the Red Devils, they claimed they weren't to blame and it was an issue at Madrid's end. Ultimately, whoever was to blame wasn't important, the fact De Gea remained a Manchester United player was.
It was a test of character for the now Spain No 1. He could've sulked and moaned about not getting the move he wanted. Instead he was soon back in the United side and was producing match-winning performances.
He helped the Red Devils win the FA Cup in 2016 before League Cup and Europa League victories under Josè in 2016-17.
De Gea's workload under the Portuguese, who shares an agent, Jorge Mendes, with the goalkeeper, was expected to decrease following his arrival in the summer of 2016. That hasn't been the case. Josè has yet to establish an impregnable United defence due to several injuries to the defenders. It has led to De Gea having to bail out his teammates on several occasions - the latest being his extraordinary second half stop against Manchester City.
Make no mistake, it was De Gea that won the game for United. Paul Pogba may have scored twice and Alexis Sanchez was influential before his substitution, but without the Spaniard, showcasing the agility of a gymnast and reactions of a fighter pilot, United would've drawn that game, or at worst been beaten.
The most breathtaking was the stop to deny Sergio Aguero. City fans were in their feet. They thought it had gone in. De Gea had other ideas.
De Gea is different to most keepers in that he almost prefers to make stops with his feet. He is redefining how a goalkeeper should save a ball, and coaches are now actively encouraging young goalkeepers to use the bottom half of their body to block efforts on goal as much as their hands.
It's why De Gea is the world's best. He isn't just a goalkeeper, he is a revolutionary.
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