David de Gea makes remarkable bit of history as Manchester United beat Leeds

David de Gea of Manchester United celebrates his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Manchester United at Elland Road in Leeds, United Kingdom on 12 February, 2023.
(Image credit: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

David de Gea made history as he played in Manchester United's 2-0 win at Leeds on Sunday, becoming the first non-British player to make 400 Premier League appearances for a single club.

The Spaniard has passed former United goalkeeper Tim Howard to move up to ninth on the list of all-time Premier League appearances among non-Brits.

He's also drawn level with Gary Neville for the most outings in the competition for the Red Devils – although he still has some way to go to catch Paul Scholes (499) and, especially, Ryan Giggs (632).

To put De Gea's achievement into context, recent research by The Times (via the official Manchester United website) revealed that only two non-British players in the history of the English top flight have featured more times for one club than De Gea: Bruce Grobbelaar and Bert Trautmann, who starred for Liverpool and Manchester City respectively.

De Gea could write his name into the history books again next week: he's now just two clean sheets short of breaking Peter Schmeichel's all-time United record of 180.

Erik ten Hag's side travel to Barcelona for the first leg of their Europa League Round of 32 tie on Thursday, before returning to Premier League action at home to Leicester on Sunday.

Tom Hancock

Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...

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