This season has seen De Gea confirm that his development is all but complete as during the first half of the campaign, when United's injury-ravaged defensive line lacked any sense of stability, their big No. 1 kept a rocking ship afloat. Confirmation of his outstanding contribution to United's season came as he was named in the PFA's Team of the Year, with De Gea arguably emerging as the most significant contributor to Louis van Gaal's first season as the club's head coach.
-- Kevin Palmer

The stats that tell the story

- Led team by starting 43 of 44 games in all competitions this season, missing only the season finale because of a hamstring injury.
- Won Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award (voted on by Manchester United fans) for the second straight year. He's the only keeper to win the award since its inception in 1988.
- In his four Premier League seasons, he's saved 75 percent of shots, fourth-best out of 22 keepers to play 50 games in that span.

What the experts say

"Losing De Gea to Real Madrid, or indeed to anyone else, is unthinkable. Player recruitment for any position is never as simple as making a list of the "best" and working your way down it, but goalkeepers are the hardest hire." -- Iain Macintosh, April 2015.

"This match can happily be recorded as another occasion where Manchester United owe all three points to De Gea. He got down heroically to stop Emmanuel Riviere in each half number and, after {Ashley] Young's goal, denied Papiss Cisse. But that was just the flamboyant stuff. This was an assured display of the goalkeeping arts. At the moment, United owe everything to this man." -- Mark Payne, March 2015.

"The Spaniard was probably his team's best performer and proved yet again why he is chiefly responsible for their status as holders of the fourth-best defensive record in the league. He put his body firmly behind swerving shots from distance, beat away a close-range effort in injury-time at his near post and kept out a superb drive from Charlie Austin with an even better save. For all the talk of buying new players, his contract renewal is currently the most pressing piece of business at Old Trafford." -- Musa Okwonga, January 2015.