Even if David de Gea felt he was able to play the opening game of the season against Tottenham on Saturday, the Manchester United fans have to trust the judgment of their vastly experienced manager when he decided the Spanish stopper had to be left out.

Louis van Gaal is restoring Manchester United to where the club feels it should be, and the De Gea decision is a massive part of that. Van Gaal has got them back into the Champions League which was stage one of the process, but it’s not just about top four, titles and trophies.

It’s about re-establishing an aura that should surround and embrace a truly great football club.

Goalkeepers (from left) Victor Valdes, David de Gea and Anders Lindegaard watch Manchester United

Manager Louis van Gaal decided not to play the Spain international against Spurs

In the middle of David Moyes’ underwhelming year at United, centre half Nemanja Vidic announced he would be leaving at the end of the season. That in itself was confirmation that United had lost something special, something intangible.

Raheem Sterling could leave Liverpool, Robin van Persie could leave Arsenal, but Vidic turning his back on Manchester United was something very different.

It was like United had downsized and sure enough the subsequent finish of seventh was a massive disappointment.

Of course players had left before: but Eric Cantona retired completely, while Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the world’s best who was chasing his boyhood dream to join Real Madrid, and even then was persuaded to stay on a year to give Sir Alex Ferguson time to solve the problems the departure of the Portuguese presented.

New signing Sergio Romero started in goal for Manchester United on the opening day against Spurs

Romero kept a clean sheet on his debut as Manchester United beat Spurs 1-0 at Old Trafford

Van Gaal has so far taken the first steps to putting right the issues on the pitch. A lot has been said about the money spent to rebuild United but if anyone thought they would do it on a shoestring they’re incredibly naive.

But re-establishing an aura around a great club is something different; it’s not a case of spending £30million and problem solved. It takes great management.

And so when much was made of the image of Victor Valdes, David de Gea and Anders Lindegaard (it’s like an odd-one-out) sitting in the directors’ box during the Spurs game, some interpreted it as farcical, they even saw it as an example of how badly United is run.

Louis van Gaal is restoring Manchester United to a great club by making tough decisions

By the end of the game those noises were calmed down by the fact that United had kept a clean sheet and the keeper out on the pitch, a World Cup finalist with Argentina a year ago, was arguably man of the match.

Of course De Gea is United’s best keeper. But by making a firm decision to leave him out, Van Gaal sent out a message that nobody, no player, is bigger than Manchester United Football Club.

Van Gaal’s not being a control freak, he’s doing what he feels is right for the club. The message to De Gea is that he has to sort his head out. United have every right to hold out for the deal they want for their No 1, if he is to depart. And the fact he only has a year of his contract left should make very little difference.

United can afford to let players leave for nothing, that’s the reality of their financial position. So if De Gea does leave, I expect United to get a decent deal for him, and not a fee that smells of the desperate sale of a player running his contract down.