Football Player's Biography 7: David de Gea

Full name	David de Gea Quintana
Date of birth	7 November 1990 (1990-11-07) (age 20)
Place of birth	Madrid, Spain
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper

David de Gea Quintana born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Atletico Madrid as a goalkeeper.

Club career

A product of Atlético de Madrid's youth system, De Gea spent his first professional seasons with the reserves, in Segunda División B. As first-choice Sergio Asenjo was away on international duty, he received his first main side call-ups. On September 30, 2009, he replaced injured Roberto during the UEFA Champions League contest at F.C. Porto, in an eventual 0–2 loss, not yet aged 19.

Three days later, De Gea made his La Liga debuts, at home against Real Zaragoza; he gave away a penalty kick in the 19th minute, but saved the ensuing Marko Babić attempt, in an eventual 2–1 triumph.^[1] After some costly mistakes by Asenjo, and the arrival of Quique Sánchez Flores as manager, he finished the season as the starter – twice earning Man of the match awards along the way, against Athletic Bilbao and Valencia CF. Additionally, he appeared in eight games in the club's victorious UEFA Europa League campaign, including the 2–1 final win against Fulham.

De Gea started 2010–11 in impressive fashion, helping Atlético win the season's UEFA Super Cup: in the 90th minute of the 2–0 win against Internazionale Milano, he saved a Diego Milito penalty kick.
On 24 May 2011, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that the club is close to completing a deal to sign De Gea as a replacement for the retiring Edwin van der Sar.

However, De Gea has stated that he will not make a decision on his future until after the European Under-21 Championship.

Manchester United

The first half of 2011 saw a great deal of speculation regarding how Manchester United would replace their retiring goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, and much attention focused on De Gea, among others.^[8] After Gary Neville's testimonial against Juventus on 24 May, United manager Alex Ferguson claimed that a deal had been done to bring De Gea to Old Trafford, but this was later denied by De Gea's representatives and the Atlético management, with De Gea stating that he would not consider his future until after the UEFA Under-21 Championship.^[9] Following Spain's victory, De Gea was spotted in Manchester having a medical with United on 27 June. The next day, he reported that United were making him a contract offer, and the transfer was confirmed on 29 June.
He made his first appearance for Manchester United in a 3–1 friendly win over Chicago Fire on 23 July 2011. He made his competitive debut for United against Manchester City in the Community Shield on 7 August. Despite being caught out in the first half by a header from Joleon Lescott and a long range Edin Džeko strike that put City into a 2–0 lead, United rallied in the second half and won 3–2.^[11] De Gea made his league debut for Manchester United against West Bromwich Albion a week later, where he failed to stop a "tame" Shane Long goal during a 2–1 United victory

International career

De Gea helped Spain's U17 win the 2007 European Championship,and finish second at the 2007 World Cup.
In early May 2010, courtesy of solid Atlético performances, he was named by senior squad manager Vicente del Bosque in a provisional 30-man squad, in view of the upcoming FIFA World Cup;eventually, he did not make the final cut.