Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has moved past iconic former captain Roy Keane in the club's all-time appearance list. The 31-year-old plays his 32nd game of the Premier League season this afternoon and has totted-up 481 matches all-told since swapping Atletico Madrid for Old Trafford in 2011.
Having been dislodged by Academy graduate Dean Henderson last season, De Gea was restored as number one for this campaign and has been an ever-present in the Premier League. Meanwhile, barring a late charge from one of his United teammates, the Spaniard is also a shoe-in for the club's Player of the Year award.
De Gea kept hold of the gloves against Norwich in a line-up that featured Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard and a back-four that comprised of Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire and Alex Telles. United took on the rock-bottom Canaries hoping to take advantage of an earlier slip-up from Tottenham.
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The north Londoners were beaten by a late winner from Brighton to keep the top-four race open. In surpassing the appearance total compiled by Keane, meanwhile, De Gea has moved up to 12th in the historic charts.
Of course, Ryan Giggs remains someway clear at the top (963 appearances), but De Gea is only 29 games shy of Joe Spence (510 appearances) in tenth place. With six fixtures to go after meeting Norwich, the long-serving goalkeeper can move up another position to 11th before the season ends.
Manchester United: Top-10 all-time appearances
1 - Ryan Giggs (963 games)
2 - Sir Bobby Charlton (758 games)
3 - Paul Scholes (718 games)
4 - Bill Foulkes (688 games)
5 - Gary Neville (602 games)
6 - Wayne Rooney (559 games)
7 - Alex Stepney (539 games)
8 - Tony Dunne (535 games)
9 - Denis Irwin (529 games)
10 - Joe Spence (510 games)
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