MANCHESTER UNITED goalkeeper David De Gea has been announced as Premier League Player of the Month for January.
It’s the first time De Gea has won the award in 11 years at Manchester United, and the first time a goalkeeper has scooped the prize in SIX YEARS.
Southampton shot-stopper Fraser Forster was the last man between the sticks to win Player of the Month, all the way back in February 2019.
De Gea’s excellent January sees him land the gong – despite keeping just one clean sheet in four games.
Forster on the other hand kept three clean sheets in four games to earn the award way back when.
United won two, drew one and lost one of their games last month, but it could have been a much worse were it not for De Gea.
The 31-year-old made a whopping 22 saves in just four Prem outings in January.
And in doing so he beat Jarrod Bowen, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Harrison, Joao Moutinho and James Ward-Prowse to the Player of the Month award.
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January started in defeat for De Gea and United, going down 1-0 at home to Wolves, but De Gea’s heroics between the sticks stopped the visitors from running away with it.
The Spaniard was equally impressive next time out against Aston Villa.
Although he could do nothing about letting a two goal lead slip, Steven Gerrard’s side would more than likely have won the game were it not for De Gea.
A trip to Brentford followed, with the Red Devils running out 3-1 winners in West London.
But De Gea’s brilliance in the first half helped his side go into the break level at 0-0, when the Bees so easily could have been two or three up.
Bees boss Thomas Frank even said his side had ‘destroyed’ United in the first 45 minutes, but were kept at bay thanks to a string of fine De Gea saves.
De Gea then rounded off January with a satisfying clean sheet at home to West Ham as his performance between the sticks laid the platform for Marcus Rashford to net a dramatic winner.
The keeper will be wanting more of the same when he returns to action after the winter break in a bid to help United qualify for the Champions League.
Meanwhile the goalkeepers union will be hoping that it won’t be another six years until another shot-stopper scoops Prem Player of the Month.
Elsewhere Wolves boss Bruno Lage landed Manager of the Month after leading his side to three wins in three games in January.
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