The reason why we didn’t sell De Gea to Madrid – Van Gaal

Manchester United boss, Louis Van Gaal, has said that David De Gea’s performance against Southampton on Sunday, proved they were right not to sell him to Real Madrid.

The Spain international made several crucial saves in the second half, as the Red Devils won 3-2 at St Marys. The pick of the bunch, was an outstanding save to deny Jose Fonte a late equalizer.

Van told Sky Sports: “He is the goalkeeper to do that. Also Sergio Romero has saved us in games, now David de Gea did that with a remarkable save from a header from Fonte.

“It was fantastic, therefore we are very happy he shall stay with us. That’s why we were very difficult in the transfer period for Real Madrid. It is not for nothing.”

The victory takes United into second place, two points behind Manchester City. But Van Gaal says it is too early to talk about winning the title.

“Of course, we shall always strive for it, we also did last year, but you can’t expect from a team in transition already a title, but when we are close we shall grab it,” he said.

“For the first time, we controlled the match better, we played more to kill the game. After the Champions League match against PSV you could see they were more tired in the last 15 minutes.

“The players are doing it, they are performing. I have to say it was also a fantastic from Martial and Depay.”