DAVID DE GEA is the best goalkeeper in Europe despite being let go by Manchester United, according to the stats.

Their decision to let long-term servant De Gea depart on a free transfer and replace him with £41m-recruit Andre Onana was bold.

De Gea has enjoyed a stunning return to form with Fiorentina after a YEAR away from the pitch

And now the 33-year-old’s exploits in Italy are starting to raise further question marks about former manager Erik ten Hag’s decision.

The Spaniard, who spent 12 seasons at Old Trafford, had to wait 446 days to enter the pitch again.

He was often considered the Premier League’s best goalkeeper, and is now getting similar recognition in Serie A.

The stats show that De Gea is making more saves and from a higher quality of shots than any other keeper in Europe.

He has saved a staggering 76 per cent of on-target attempts that have come his way so far this term, according to Opta via Fbref.

In fact, no other shot-stopper performs better in that metric.

And his rating of 7.61 makes him the highest rated goalkeeper in Europe this season, according to match ratings site WhoScored.

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De Gea has been putting in brilliant displays for the Florence-based outfit on a regular basis.

The ex-Old Trafford star sits top of the save per cent table, while he is also second in the saves per 90 minutes rankings and sixth in the goals prevented table.

He has five clean sheets so far to his name this term with Fiorentina sitting fourth in Serie A.

Replacement Onana comes in close with 70 per cent of on-target shots saved in all competitions.

And returning Newcastle keeper Nick Pope has a higher save per cent than Onana, but has faced less shots than the Man Utd No.1

At other end – West Ham‘s Alphonse Areola has been enduring a nightmare run of form and is low in both save quality and save quantity.

This has seen the Hammers DROP the Frenchman and bring in veteran Lukasz Fabianski as they look to fend off a relegation battle going into Christmas.

Elsewhere, the freshly-crowned world’s best goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez fell into the same bracket as Areola, as Aston Villa dropped to eighth in the Prem.

Martinez has saved just 50 per cent of his opponent’s shots on-target.

The Argentine World Cup winner’s recent display in Villa’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea saw him hauled off injured at half-time.

Meanwhile, during his time at United, De Gea won the player of the season award four times.

He was also named in the PFA Team of the Year on five separate occasions, including for four consecutive years.