There is a strong argument that goalkeeper is the most difficult position on the pitch to fill. Manchester United have been blessed with some top-class goalkeepers over the years, from Peter Schmeichel through to David de Gea, with many more in between.
It has been difficult for supporters to watch on as Liverpool have boasted Alisson Becker, Manchester City have had Ederson, and even Arsenal have seen David Raya keep the net for them, whilst United seem to have suffered from one terrible ‘keeper to another. The question is, is the current incumbent good enough?
He Arrived with Excellent Pedigree
When André Onana arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 2023, he did so with an excellent reputation. The Cameroonian international began his life as a youth goalkeeper at the Samuel Eto’o Academy before impressing enough to join Barcelona’s youth system in 2010 when he was just 15 years old. Although he never played for the Spanish giants, he will have learned plenty about what it is like to be part of a huge football club, heading out on loan to the likes of Cornellà and Vista Alegre in order to gain some first-team experience.
André Onana has signed a well-deserved contract extension at AFC Ajax.
His new deal will run through to 2022. pic.twitter.com/ecjrB6MuCg
— SCOUTED (@scoutedftbl) March 28, 2019
In the early months of 2015, Onana was signed by the Dutch club Ajax later in the year, making his debut for Jong Ajax, the junior team, in the Eerste Divisie and doing well enough to be offered a new contract in 2017. He signed a new contract in March of 2019, having made his way into the Ajax first-team conversation, announcing later in the year that it was his long-term dream to play for a Premier League side at some point. In February of 2021, the goalkeeper tested positive for a banned substance and was banned for 12 months by UEFA.
@skillerunchained André Onana’s best saves for Inter Milan & Ajax 🔥 #fyp #futbol #football #footballtiktok #onana #andreonana #intermilan #inter #ajax #manchesterunited #skillerunchained #foryou #foryourpage #foryoupage #viral #xyzbca #blowthisup #seriea #eredivisie ♬ original sound – skillerunchained
The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the ban to nine months, but his seven and a half-year spell at Ajax was over when he announced he was leaving to join the Italian giants Inter Milan in May of 2022. In his only season there, he won the Supercoppa Italiana and the Coppa Italia, also helping Inter make the final of the Champions League where they eventually lost to United’s fierce rivals Manchester City. Even so, he had done enough to earn his move to the Red Devils with a sterling reputation to his name.
Is the Premier League Too Physical?
The reality of life in the Premier League is that it is one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world. Although goalkeepers typically tend to get some protection from referees, the truth of the matter is that they will still come under all sorts of pressure from defenders and midfielders, to say nothing of the more physically imposing attackers that play in the English top flight. Onana is someone who is an excellent reflex shot-stopper but who is not necessarily likely to put himself about when players are overloading the area.
Watching David De Gea at Fiorentina, no rational human can say Andre Onana was an upgrade for #ManUtd.
— Paul Atreides-Nuts (@paulatreidesnuts.bsky.social) December 15, 2024 at 3:18 PM
The player himself would no doubt point out that there have been too many changes at Old Trafford for him to have been given a fair crack of the whip. After all, he was signed by Dutch manager Erik Ten Hag, who liked to play four at the back, only to find himself being briefly manager by Ruud van Nistelrooy prior to the arrival of Ruben Amorim, who likes to play five at the back and arguably doesn’t have the players to do it. Defensively, therefore, he’s been given very little protection, even if he isn’t very physical himself.
United Need the Best
Part of the problem for Manchester United in the modern era is that the supporters believe that the club deserves the very best player in every position, but the position that the Red Devils find themselves in means that that is a struggle to pull off. Although the club has finished as runners-up since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the truth of the matter is that they have never really looked likely to challenge. As things currently stand, United sit in 13th, and finishing inside the top ten seems like an extremely unlikely achievement.
Although part of that is down to Onana not being good enough, it is hardly as though other players in the dressing room are setting a much better example. With the possible exception of Bruno Fernandes, whose attitude might be seen as a problem by some, which of the clubs at the top of the Premier League would want to take any of United’s players at the moment? That being said, Onana is definitely low down on the list of those who would be sought after if they were available, even if it does feel like the least of Amorim’s problems.