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Andre Onana’s time at Manchester United needs to come to an end once the season is over.
The Cameroonian arrived with much promise, a finalist in the 2023 Champions League and being voted one of the top players in the world at the Ballon d’Or rankings of the same year.
Finally, United were supposed to have replaced an error prone David de Gea with one of the best ball playing keepers in the world.
Nonetheless, fast forward 21 months and it will be hard to find many who think Onana has been an improvement on De Gea in any way.
The goalkeeper spoke arrogantly before the Europa League tie against Olympique Lyonnais, claiming that the Red Devils were “way better” than their opponents.
This sparked a response from Lyon player and former United star, Nemanja Matic, who claimed Onana was the worst United keeper in modern history.
After his showing in the match, it is hard to argue with that logic. He palmed a soft free kick into his goal for Lyon’s first and in the dying embers of the match, let a tameless shot bounce off him and into the path of Rayan Cherki who gratefully equalised.
There are rumours that Onana will be dropped for tomorrow’s match against Newcastle United and he really couldn’t have too many complaints.
The issue is Onana has constantly made errors during his time at Old Trafford. It would be disingenuous to suggest he hasn’t had some good moments.
He made a miraculous save against Crystal Palace in September and made a couple of big stops against Real Sociedad in the first leg in Spain to keep the score at 1-1.
Nonetheless, this should be expected from a Man United keeper. Onana’s issue is every time he gets back into form, he is only moments or matches away from making his next big mistake.
He also has a tendency to do it at the worst possible moment. Last season his errors probably cost United qualification from the group stage of the Champions League as he let in two soft free kick goals against Galatasaray as United blew a two-goal advantage twice in Turkiye.
The Cameroon international also made two blunders in a crucial home defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion and also in last year’s FA Cup final, which almost let Manchester City back in the game.
Onana is also the keeper in the Premier League who has most errors leading to goals since 2023, showing that his errors are not only frequent but also costly.
Another reason for the club to rid themselves of Onana is he has never delivered with his feet. He was supposed to revolutionise how United played out from the back but it is hard to see any real evidence of this after almost two seasons.
He seems to frequently put people under pressure with certain passes and has a penchant to play it long, often with little accuracy or much thought.
Additionally, the keeper tends to play less of a role in the build up in Amorim’s system due to the additional centre back, so even if he was playing well on the ball, it would be less necessary at United in 2025.
What’s more at 29 years old, he isn’t going to improve. While it is true, goalkeepers have a later peak than outfield players, it is very hard to see how Onana will suddenly change his ways.
Whilst his mistakes are magnified at United, he was still error prone at Ajax and Inter Milan and it has been a recurrent theme of his career.
Finally and probably most concerning is Onana just doesn’t seem to have a top level technique, certainly something he will never fix at almost 30.
Usually when keepers make mistakes, it is down to confidence or lack of concentration. Even greats like Peter Schmeichel or Edwin van der Sar made the occasional error.
The difference was they didn’t tend to do it in key moments and secondly, it was rarely if ever down to technique.
Onana frequently seems to have trouble following the flight of the ball and seems to regularly position himself poorly for one-on-ones or long range shots. He also seems to do a little hop before leaping, which delays the save a little.
He is also prone to parrying the ball into dangerous areas when he should simply catch it.
Without sounding disrespectful, there are many keepers who would improve United in nets and it is not overtly negative to suggest that the majority of keepers in the Premier League are better, or at least less error prone than Onana. Put it this way, how many opposition fans would swap their keeper for the Cameroon international?
United reportedly have Burnley’s James Trafford on a three-man shortlist, and this is a strong bet for the summer. He is well known by United technical director Jason Wilcox due to his time at the Manchester City academy.
The Englishman is an imposing six foot six (1.98m) and 70% of his matches for Burnley have resulted in a clean sheet.
Trafford at 22 years old is a modern keeper who is not only consistent but also strong on the ball and can play out from the back if required.
What’s more, he is used to the English game and will not need time to acclimatise like Zion Suzuki or Senne Lammens would need to.
Trafford is also a fantastic penalty stopper, which can be worth its weight in gold at various points throughout the season, especially as Onana and De Gea before him seem so poor at this skill.
There will certainly be competition for the Burnley man’s signature. According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Newcastle United still have a personal terms agreement in place for this summer, having had a £20 million bid rejected by the Clarets last year.
Featured image Molly Darlington via Getty Images
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