David de Gea insists he feels better than ever at the start of a pivotal season in his Manchester United career. 

The Spain international came under scrutiny last season following some high-profile mistakes and now faces pressure for his place after Dean Henderson – who starred on loan at Sheffield United – was kept at Old Trafford and signed a new long-term deal. 

Henderson impressed on his United debut in their EFL Cup win at Luton Town this week but De Gea remains number one going into Saturday's Premier League fixture with Brighton and Hove Albion. 

"Yeah maybe [people forget I'm still young] because I have been playing a lot since I was very young, but right now I feel probably the best I have felt in my career," the 29-year-old said to MUTV. 

"I feel very, very well and very confident and very positive and that's very important for me. 

"It's great to train every day here with the coaches and the goalkeepers. We always try to learn from each other and try to push altogether. It is great. 

"If you see the training it’s really good to see the goalkeepers together - very important to have good feelings with the other goalkeepers and the goalkeeping coaches as well. 

"We are training very, very well – the whole department of keepers. We need to be at this level every day and to show the players that the keepers are feeling 100 per cent."

A dreadful start to United's Premier League campaign saw them suffer a 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace, a blow after they made such a strong finish to end up third last season. 

De Gea saved a second-half penalty from Jordan Ayew but it had to be taken again after it was ruled he had fractionally stepped off his line, allowing Wilfried Zaha to net. 

"It was a bit crazy," reflected De Gea. "It is already difficult to save a penalty. 

"Even if you make the save and they repeat the penalty then they can change the taker so there is no pressure on the player who missed the penalty - it's a little bit strange. 

"Those are the rules though and I try to save the next penalty straight from the line, that's the football rules." 

He added: "It's true the first game wasn’t the best game for us. It was a strange time after last season not having enough time to rest properly but it's the same for all teams. 

"It's time to start winning games. Last season we finished really, really strong, so we need to try to play as we did in the last 10 games. This is the way we need to be and playing our best football. 

"Now it's time to be back to winning ways and winning trophies, that's the most important thing for us at the moment. We have to go for trophies."