David de Gea has labelled Lee Grant as a 'legend' after saying goodbye to his teammate of the last four years.
Grant has been at Manchester United since 2018 but hung up the gloves after a 20-year career on Thursday. The 39-year-old has linked up with former coach Kieran McKenna at League One's Ipswich Town and taken up a first-team coaching role.
Despite only making two appearances for the club, Grant has clearly made an impact during his time at Old Trafford as fellow goalkeeper De Gea heaped praise on him in a touching tribute.
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"It's been an absolute pleasure to be with him four years," he told United's in-house media while sat next to Grant. "I think he's one of - I play with many keepers, many players - but he's one of the ones who I've seen working hard, be professional. He's one of the best I've seen in my life. He's a legend.
"So for me, it's been an absolute pleasure to work with him. He's been always trying to help, trying to give me advice. He's very experienced, played many games, but just the way he works he doesn't need to speak, the way he works speaks for himself because it's unbelievable the way he works in the gym.
"Outside, it doesn't matter if he's tired, he's always there working, giving his 100 per cent. So he's an example not just for me, for the whole team."
Grant replied: "And I've enjoyed every moment of working alongside him. To hear those comments from, in my opinion, one of the greatest goalkeepers in Premier League history is truly... it's a little bit emotional. Really flattering and wonderful to hear.
"I knew he was a top keeper before I came here and I wasn't surprised by how good his level was. I think we've seen over the course of the last four years how consistent he's been. I've said it to David in the past, one of the hardest things to do is to have that consistency of performance and stay ready mentally for big games.
"I've done it over a different period and over what I would consider a level not quite at the level of Manchester United. David manages to be at the level week in, week out, Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and that really has been staggering for me to see and that's one of the things I've commented on to him personally that impresses me the most."
De Gea added: "I think we all love him he knows, just the way he works and the way he treats people, only with a smile, treating people, taking care of people, that's so important and he's one of the biggest characters in the team for sure and we're all going to miss him."
The conversation then ended as Grant stood up and said: "Above and beyond, David, top!" De Gea replied with: "I'm going to miss you," before Grant ended with: "I'm going to miss you, bro."
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