David de Gea has been the standout performer for Manchester United this season, with their indifferent defence this season having forced him into performances foreign to United goalkeepers of the recent past – he has had to bail his team out time and time again, almost winning games for United, rather than simply keeping infrequent shots out.

But his wonderful performances, his young age (especially for a goalie) and perhaps also his nationality have fuelled talk of a big money move to the all-white side of Madrid in the summer.

With all the talk of Gareth Bale going in the opposite direction, United fans would probably still rather keep David de Gea between the sticks in stead of adding another world class attacking option to their already imbalanced squad. (Though if CR7 fancies a return, would they really say no?)

But to look at it another way, although De Gea is a marvellous shot-stopper and a reliable custodian, would United actually miss him if he goes?

The current answer would have to be yes, just given how important he has been to the team this year, but United are still transitioning into something new – morphing into a ‘Louis Van Gaal team’. Once they’ve done that, the answer might be ‘probably not’.

United’s defence has looked shaky, in midfield they have sometimes lacked a creative spark and some of the forwards haven’t been firing. Robein van Persie hasn’t been at his awesome best, Radamel Falcao, after a big-money loan move, and potential huge full-time transfer, has flattered to deceive and Wayne Rooney has scored fewer goals than usual – though he’s been played in midfield a lot, and seems to find the net okay when he’s put up front.

To put all of this together and come up with third place in the table takes some magic, and surely you’d have to say that Van Gaal has provided it!

But there’s more to come – this isn’t yet a Van Gaal team.

Van Gaal comes from a Dutch school of thought that believes in the value of pressing, and a high defensive line that stops the opponent from playing properly. The value of passing and keeping possession – if they don’t have the ball, they can’t score. And all of this can be risky, because if you deploy a high line, and you lose the ball whilst trying to play possession football, you can be very susceptible to the counter attack – as we saw when United lost to Leicester earlier this season.

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Van Gaal has two answers to this, though. One is to play Michael Carrick deeper than normal for a defensive midfielder, actually playing him as a third centre back when United are in possession of the ball (Carrick’s heat maps show just how deep he plays). This means that as United’s full backs bomb forward to provide width, and the midfielders pass it around the middle of the park, they still have a solid three at the back.

The second answer is usually to play with a sweeper-keeper.

In 1995 Van Gaal won the Champions League with Ajax, in what was something of a shock. A young team went all the way to the final two years in a row – proving it wasn’t a fluke – and they played very much the ‘Van Gaal way’.

The passing then incorporated the same ideas as he is implementing at United, fast and fluid, keep possession. But he also had Edwin Van der Sar – a keeper who, despite his monstrous height, was very adept at using his feet. He would keep a high starting position, and come out to cut out balls over the top of the high defensive line, and then distribute to a teammate.

Van Gaal is also the man who brought Victor Valdes into the Barcelona side, and Valdes has played the exact same role for Barcelona ever since. He has probably been the epitome of the sweeper-keeper concept for the last 10 years – himself and the new kid on the block, Manuel Neuer.

As United move more and more towards this style of play, and as they get more and more used to it, Valdes – or perhaps another, younger keeper who is adept at playing this role – might be the kind of goalkeeper they need.

As good as De Gea is at stopping shots, when United start to play more in the Van Gaal mould, there will be less need for a keeper who stays on the line and makes spectacular saves, and more need for one who can come off his line and become part of the defence itself.

Of course, a keeper of De Gea’s quality is always hard to replace, but if United can find a keeper who fits their new style of play then they might be even better off as a whole. De Gea might just be the sacrifice Van Gaal needs to make in order to turn his team into ‘his team’.

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