De Gea: Mourinho Has Settled The Club Down

David De Gea believes Jose Mourinho has provided Manchester United with a sense of calm and clarity, which is contributing to the team’s ever-improving performances this season.

The Reds are currently unbeaten in 11 matches across all competitions and also enjoying a four-match winning run in the Premier League, which De Gea and his Reds team-mates hope to extend when Middlesbrough visit Old Trafford for a 15:00 GMT kick-off on New Year’s Eve.

De Gea has admittedly seen plenty of changes during his five and a half seasons with United, but the Spaniard feels Mourinho has settled the club and provided a real sense of purpose this campaign.

“He's a really great manager,” David explains in an exclusive interview that appears in Saturday’s edition of official match programme United Review. “He's a winner; he wants to win every game, every competition. He's working hard, he's really close to the players and I think that's really good.

"He's always joking with us, he's a strong character and that's good. Things are more positive and he's a winner. You can feel he wants to win and I think the players know that we have to.”

Discussing a similar point, De Gea says: “With the manager and the new players we've signed, everything is calmer now and it's more of a normal situation. But now we need to do it on the pitch. We need to win games, and that's that. 

“We all want to go in the same direction. We want to win things and we all know what Manchester United is. It's a massive club, we know all the fans deserved more than they have had in the last few years and we need to play our best, give everything on the pitch and keep trying to win, win, win.”

Amusingly, as part of a wide-ranging interview that discusses his own form and evolution, De Gea jokes that he wants his reign as United’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year to end later this season. 

Asked if winning the trophy for a fourth successive time interests him, the goalkeeper says:  “Erm… no! I would prefer a striker or someone else to win it – someone who means that the team as a whole is playing well and scoring goals, because it is much better for the team that way.”