CHRIS WHEELER: David de Gea’s contribution to success under Erik ten Hag cannot be underestimated

As Manchester United’s players celebrated in front of the red and white hordes still packed inside Wembley, David de Gea broke away from his teammates and ran towards the touchline.

The first hug was for United’s goalkeeper coach Richard Hartis. Then one for each of Erik ten Hag’s backroom staff who came over to congratulate the Spaniard as the huddle grew bigger and bigger.

If it wasn’t for the fact he is 6ft 4in tall and dressed from head to toe in bright yellow, you could easily have lost sight of De Gea altogether.

For United’s first trophy since 2017 was also a personal triumph for their goalkeeper. In shutting out Newcastle here at Wembley, De Gea broke Peter Schmeichel’s 24-year-old record of clean sheets for United and set a new best of 181.

‘It was the perfect day to do it in a final,’ he said. ‘To break the record is something amazing so I’m really proud.’ 

The keeper has made a habit of making key saves at vital times – with two in the last week alone

His timing could not have been better.

This may have felt like a relatively comfortable win to secure the club’s first trophy of the Erik ten Hag era, but how would the Carabao Cup final have worked out if De Gea had not made a crucial save from Allan Saint-Maximin in the 31st minute?

With Diogo Dalot already on a booking and wary of jumping into a challenge on the Frenchman, Saint-Maximin cut inside the United right-back and took on De Gea from a tight angle. His effort was good enough but De Gea was equal to it, thrusting up his left hand to keep the ball out.

It was a fantastic reflex save and all the better for the fact United opened the scoring through Casemiro two minutes later. Six minutes after that, Sven Botman’s own-goal gave United a two-goal advantage and it already felt as though the Carabao Cup was heading to Manchester.

De Gea is developing a habit of making crucial saves at crucial moments this season. At Old Trafford on Thursday night, he tipped over a header from Barcelona’s Jules Kounde with the scores level on the night and on aggregate before United scored the decisive goal to reach the last 16 of the Europa League.

Against Leicester four days earlier, he made two outstanding stops from Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho before United ran out 3-0 winners.

While Casemiro has earned praise for his transformative impact, De Gea has stayed consistent

United claimed the first trophy on offer this season as they beat Newcastle 2-0 at Wembley

At Wembley on Sunday, De Gea didn’t rank among United’s best performers. That accolade went to Casemiro who was imperious. The fearless Lisandro Martinez wasn’t far behind and Aaron Wan-Bissaka was also excellent after replacing Dalot at the interval.

United’s defending became a little desperate in the second half and De Gea would have had to wait for his record had Jacob Murphy’s long-range effort swerved the other side of his left-hand post late on.

But the 32-year-old’s contribution to United’s success under Ten Hag this season cannot be underestimated. Talks continue over a new contract and United should think long and hard before letting De Gea go if he is prepared to take a cut on his £375,000-a-week wages.

As Newcastle found out here, he’s still a hard man to beat.