By Adedapo Adesanya
Manchester United goalkeeper, David De Gea, has become the first shot-stopper to win the EA SPORTS Player of the Month award for January 2022.
The Spaniard becomes the first goalkeeper to win the monthly prize since February 2016, when Southampton’s Fraser Forster claimed it.
De Gea made an incredible 22 saves across Manchester United’s four matches in January, producing five in the 1-0 defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers, seven in a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa and then a further eight to inspire a 3-1 win at Brentford.
He also went on to keep a clean sheet in a crucial 1-0 win over top-four rivals West Ham United.
Overall, De Gea has the most saves in the Premier League this season with a total of 84 saves.
The Manchester United shot-stopper has 13 more than his nearest challenger, Illan Meslier of Leeds United who has 71 saves.
It is the first time the 31-year-old has won the Player of the Month award, after 361 Premier League appearances and 127 clean sheets.
He topped a six-man January shortlist that also featured Jarrod Bowen of West Ham, Kevin De Bruyne of Machester City, Jack Harrison of Leeds United, Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers and James Ward-Prowse of Southampton.
He takes the award last won by Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling in December 2021.
In a related development, Wolverhampton Wanderers’s head coach, Bruno Lage won the Barclays Manager of the Month after having an impressive debut season in the Premier League.
He led his side to victory in all three of their January matches, earning the accolade won in the previous two months by Pep Guardiola of Manchester City for the first time.
The Portuguese is the first Wolves head coach to claim the award since his countryman Nuno Espirito Santo did so in October 2020.
The 45-year-old won after votes from the public were combined with those of a panel of experts, beating Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool and Dean Smith of Norwich.
“I’m very proud because it was a good month for us. The performance of the team was very good and we achieved three wins.
“It was an amazing performance because we had that personality to not to be afraid of anything, to play our game, and we played very well,” he said.
One of Wolves’ three January victories was a first in the Premier League at Old Trafford, and Lage picked the 1-0 win at Manchester United as the standout result last month.
Wolves followed that up by beating Southampton 3-1 and claiming a 2-1 victory at Brentford.
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Dipo Olowookere