David de Gea becomes ninth player to reach Premier League appearance landmark
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has become just the ninth Premier League player to make 400 appearances in the competition for one club.
The Spaniard joined United in 2011 for a then British-record fee for a goalkeeper of £18.9m, replacing multi-time Premier League winner and Champions League final shootout hero Edwin van der Sar between the sticks.
He has been United's number one ever since, barring a few games during 2020/21 when he acted as Dean Henderson's understudy, and has continued to extend his stay in Manchester after famously seeing a 2015 move to Real Madrid collapse at the last minute.
De Gea's experience makes him a valuable commodity to United manager Erik ten Hag, who has overseen positive change during his eight-month tenure, and his appearance against Leeds United at Elland Road makes him just the ninth player to ever play 400 Premier League games for the same club.
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The 32-year-old is the first non-British player to achieve the feat in the Premier League era, and follows in the footsteps of three former Manchester United teammates.
Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville also played 400 or more times for United, while Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard racked up over 500 Premier League outings for Liverpool.
Chelsea duo John Terry and Frank Lampard also far exceeded the 400-game barrier, as did former West Ham United captain Mark Noble.
90min understands that Ten Hag has been extremely impressed by De Gea since his arrival, with talks continuing over a new and extended contract albeit on reduced terms.