David de Gea will become the first non-British player to make more than 400 Premier League appearances for one club, should he start against Leeds United as expected this weekend.
United face a trip across the Pennines on Sunday for the second meeting against their old rivals in four days. Wednesday's 2-2 draw saw a spirited second-half performance from Erik ten Hag's side after going 2-0 down, goals from Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho - a first since September - extending their unbeaten home run to 16 games across all competitions.
Spanish goalkeeper de Gea is the only Red to have started all 22 of this season's league games, the midweek fixture taking the 32-year-old to within one game of a significant and unrivalled milestone.
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Should Ten Hag decide to have his first-choice stopper between the Elland Road posts on Sunday, then it will be league appearance number 400 with all of them in a United shirt. Eight non-British players have reached the milestone previously - including former Red John O'Shea - but none have done it as a one-club man.
Since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2011 De Gea been remarkably consistent in terms of availability, not once dropping below 26 appearances and averaging just over 34 per season in the 11 campaigns before this current one. On three occasions, the Spanish international has been involved in all 38 games.
With the veteran shot-stopper entering the final six months of his current contract at United, speculation has grown as to whether he will call time on a 12-year career in M16. But such fears were alleviated last week when the man himself admitted he is confident negotiations - that have been going on behind the scenes - will end positively.
"We’re still talking. I’m just focused on the game, that’s the most important thing, but for sure it’s going to end in a good way," he said.
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