David De Gea breaks record for most minutes played in Premier League history… but can you guess who he overtook?
DAVID DE GEA has broken the record for playing the most minutes in Premier League history.
The Spaniard reached the milestone during the defeat against Aston Villa on the weekend as he overtook a former Manchester United goalkeeper.
De Gea has been a regular for the Red Devils since he joined the club in 2011 from Atletico Madrid for a £19million fee.
The shot-stopper has played 506 games for United, in which he has kept 174 clean sheets.
Against Villa, he reached 35,039 minutes in the Premier League, overtaking recently retired goalkeeper Ben Foster, who had played 34,959 minutes.
In third is former Chelsea and Crystal Palace defender Gary Cahill with 33,374 minutes under his belt and Petr Cech is in fourth as he played 33,324 minutes across spells with the Blues and Arsenal.
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In fifth is former Aston Villa and Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry, who played 32,316 minutes of Premier League football before retiring in 2020.
The next five on the list are Leighton Baines, James Milner, Tim Howard, Mark Noble, and Phil Jagielka.
De Gea looks set to extend his lead as the record holder as he is the first-choice goalkeeper at United.
The 32-year-old’s contract at Old Trafford is set to expire at the end of the season, although there is an option to extend it for a further year, which would take him into his 13th season at the club.
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De Gea is also reportedly keen on signing on fresh terms to cement his future at the club.
It is believed that he would even be willing to take a pay cut in order to sign a new contract extension.
This season under new manager Erik ten Hag, De Gea has had a mixture of form between the sticks as he had conceded 22 goals in 19 games in all competitions.
However, he has kept nine clean sheets and has shown signs of improvement along with the rest of the team until the defeat at Villa Park.