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David de Gea has suggested he overcame a difficult start to his Manchester United career because goalkeeping mistakes in England are 'respected' more.

De Gea was 20 when he joined United from Atletico Madrid in 2011 for £18.9million - which remains a British record fee for a goalkeeper.

However, the Spaniard made several mistakes in the first half of the campaign, allowing routine shots from Edin Dzeko, Shane Long and Theo Walcott to beat him, while errors against Basel and Blackburn in December of that year convinced Sir Alex Ferguson to drop him in favour of Anders Lindegaard.

Injury to Lindegaard in the new year reprieved De Gea, who shone on his return to the first-team, and the 25-year-old has won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for the last three campaigns at United.

"Goalkeepers and mistakes go hand in hand," De Gea told reporters after his error last week allowed Stoke to snatch a point at United. "Maybe in Italy and England they respect mistakes more."

Ferguson dropped De Gea for a second time at the start of the 2012-13 campaign after his feeble punch resulted in a Nemanja Vidic own goal as United held on for a 3-2 victory over Fulham.

Lindegaard barely excelled in the Spaniard's place, though, committing errors in the 3-2 home defeat to Tottenham to allow De Gea to regain his place.

The Spaniard pulled off a phenomenal save from Papiss Cisse in the 3-0 win at Newcastle the next week and was not dropped again until Louis van Gaal withdrew him from the team at the start of last season over a 'lack of focus', amid interest from Real Madrid.

De Gea was talking about goalkeeping mistakes after he watched Gianluigi Buffon gift Spain the lead in Thursday's World Cup qualifier against Italy at the Juventus Stadium.

A Daniele de Rossi penalty earned the Azzurri a draw in the entertaining encounter and De Gea posted a picture of him embracing Buffon after the game, describing him as a 'legend'.

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