Wednesday, 2 May 2018

Spanish Dave scoops POTY double again

David de Gea won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award - as voted for by United fans - for the fourth time in five seasons to become the all - time record winner of the coveted gong at our annual awards night.
The prestigious prize is certainly in safe hands, after Dave - who was the first man to win it in three consecutive years between 2014 and 2016 - surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick. Ander Herrera broke the streak last season, but after yet another stellar season in which he cemeted his status as the best in the world, De Gea pipped runner - up Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku in third. De Gea's double save at Arsenal, in one of the finest goalkeeping clinics the Premier League has ever seen, was voted as stop of the season. His fine form earned an inclusion in the PFA Team of the Season for the fifth time, and nomination for the main Player of the Year award - eventually deservedly won by Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.

De Gea - who won United's Player of the Month awa
rd back in February -  is also on course for a first ever "Golden Glove", awarded to the man with the most clean sheets across the 38-game league campaign, two ahead of Manchester City keeper Ederson. Along with United's miserly defence, De Gea has kept 21 clean sheets so far. Facing stiff competition, De Gea also emerged a worthy winner of the Players Player of the Year, decided by his peers to scoop a glittering double. From that remarkable intervention in Andalusia against Sevilla, to that aforementioned stunning string of stops at the Emirates, the keeper has made a number of truly spectacular saves that have often defied logic, belief and description. He will head to Russia for the World Cup as the undisputed number one for both club and country. It has been another campaign of records and recognition for the man who, if he isn't already, will surely go down as the finest ever custodian in the club's history by the time he hang up his gloves.

Nemanja Matic has enjoyed an immense debut season as the heartbeat of United's engine room, a campaign capped with the Goal of the Season gong for his injury time intervention under the lights in south London, his dipping 30 yarder completing a memorable and madcap United comeback. Antonio Valencia's piledriver vs Everton came close with a number of Jesse Lingard worldies also in contention, but Matic deservedly picked up that prize.

United manager Jose Mourinho admitted that he is not a big advoceur of individual prizes, but that did not stop the boss from a surprise gatecrashing of the ceremony, as he paid tribute to rising star Scott McTominay, presenting the young Scot with his unofficial Manager's Player of the Year.

The other age group awards saw full - back Demetri Mitchell and prospect Tahith Chong named as the Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year and Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year respectively, with the pair proudly named as the star performers for United's Under 23 and Under 18

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