De Gea backs himself to keep Manchester United No.1 spot amid calls for Henderson promotion

David de Gea is backing himself to keep the No.1 shirt at Manchester United despite a string of high profile mistakes this season.

Pressure has been mounting on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to drop the Spaniard following errors that have ended up costing United.

After his mistakes against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, there have been numerous calls for Dean Henderson, who spent the last season on loan at Sheffield United, to be brought back as first choice.

Henderson only wants to return to Old Trafford if he is guaranteed to be starting, and with interest from Chelsea in the young goalkeeper, Solskjaer has a dilemma over what to do.

The competition doesn't faze De Gea, who has won the club’s player of the year award four times, and he is backing himself to keep his place.

“I trust in myself,” he said. “I've shown my qualities over the years, so I just keep myself available for the manager. I'm always ready to play and try to help the team as usual, as I've always done.”

The Spaniard was given the nod ahead of regular Europa League choice Sergio Romero for United’s defeat to Sevilla and despite the disappointment of losing a third semi-final of the season, he is pleased with the progress the side have made.

“I think we've already improved this season. We were 14 points behind third position in the Premier League and we finished third at the end,” De Gea explained.

“We've played very well in many games, I think. To be honest, we deserved to be in the final. Maybe we need a bit more experience in the team and to score the chances that the we get. Let's keep improving, let's keep fighting for this club and let's try to win trophies next season.”

The players have now been given two weeks holiday before they resume training ahead of the new campaign starting next month and with the improvement last season, the 29-year-old is confident Solskjaer has the team heading in the right direction.

“I think we are playing very good football, attacking football, and we are all enjoying playing in that style,” he said. “There has been a lot of games and not a lot of down time, so we have a couple of weeks to rest, properly rest, and then start training again.

“The games will come again and we have to be 100 per cent focused and be ready to play our best football.”