- Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has branded David De Gea the only world class player at the club
- The 25-year-old has been superb for the Red Devils since he joined them in 2011 from Atletico Madrid
- He saved the Old Trafford outfit from losing the first leg of their Uefa Champions League clash against Sevilla in February
David De Gea has been branded the only world class player in the current Manchester United squad according to club legend, Gary Neville.
The 27-year-old has won the club’s player of the year three consecutive times since he joined the Red Devils from Atletico Madrid in 2011.
He was also instrumental to the Premier League’s outfit winning last season’s Europa League title – a feat that saw them return to the European top tier competition this season.
De Gea saved his side’s blushes in their Uefa Champions League round-of-16 first leg clash against Sevilla with a 0-0 draw, thanks to the Spaniard’s wonderful reflex save from a Luis Muriel header.
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And the 43-year-old believes January transfer signing; Alexis Sanchez hasn’t done enough to be branded in that category at the club.
“De Gea’s the only world-class player Manchester United have got. You could maybe say Sanchez but not at Manchester United yet, even if he has been at a level for the last five or six years that you would say is world class,” Neville told Goal.
“But De Gea’s the only player Manchester United have got at this moment in time that I would say has performed for the club at a world-class level.
He further explained that the player is close to De Gea in terms of performance is Antonio Valencia, claiming the 32-year-old has performed at the highest level in the past three seasons for the club.
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“The other player I would say that has done brilliantly well, whether you could say he’s world class or not, is Antonio Valencia over the last two or three years. He’s been outstanding,” Neville added.
“But to me De Gea is their stand-out player in terms of world standard at the club without a shadow of a doubt.”
Neville also insisted that he has no concerns about Alexis Sanchez’s influence on the decreased game time for fellow forwards Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
“They are getting games, they’re just not going to play every single week and I would expect Manchester United players to be challenging for places all the time,” he explained.
“The problem for Jose Mourinho at the moment is how you get Romelu Lukaku, Rashford, Martial and Sanchez into a front combination thanks works together.
“That’s the big question at the moment, who plays on the right? Martial’s been out there, we’ve seen Sanchez out there in a couple of games, and neither of them are ideal out there.
“They’d all probably prefer to play centre forward, Rashford, Martial, Sanchez and obviously Lukaku. So at the moment it’s how they fit into a front three which is the most interesting thing, not which one plays. They have to show they can play together.”
Neville played all his life at the Old Trafford, scoring five goals in 400 appearances even from his right back position between 1992 and 2011.
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Source: Sports.naija.ng