Manchester United goalkeeper reached rock bottom at Old Trafford but is now picking up the pieces in Turkey
Andre Onana, remember him? The Cameroonian appeared to have reached the nadir at Old Trafford, struggling to make even the simplest of saves against League Two opposition.
It wasn’t working, the pressure at Old Trafford too intense, and after two error-strewn years in Manchester the goalkeeper decided to do the footballing equivalent of getting on the bus and going far, far away.
Now, just a few months later, the Cameroon international is quietly rebuilding his reputation with a string of strong performances for Trabzonspor in Turkey, even earning a super nickname along with it.
The Wall. That’s what they call him now.
Against Eyupspor last week, Onana made four key saves. He also registered an 86 per cent pass completion rate, the kind of defensive third domination that made United seek out his services in the first place under Erik ten Hag. Against Gaziantep he registered an assist with his pass to Paul Onuachu to earn Trabzonspor a vital point.
“Most of the time, the important thing for me is to try to do the best for the team,” Onana modestly underplayed his performances.
“If I have to create a play, I analyse it first. Are the opponents pressing, are they pressing with their wingers, are they pressing with their strikers, or are their centre-backs coming forward? These are the things I need to see when I have the ball.”
Those are the traits that once drew effusive praise from Pep Guardiola, who faced Onana’s Inter Milan in Istanbul in the 2023 Champions League final.
“The goalkeeper, Onana, makes it really difficult to deploy a high press against,” Guardiola said at the time.
“For the way they play, with the high press, Onana is an exceptional goalkeeper to take the position to build-up. Really, really good.”
He seemed untouchable in that game. And the grief he gave their rivals no doubt played a large part in convincing United to pay north of £43m for his services.
It didn’t work for him there, but he is showing that it is not from a complete lack of ability.
“As I always say, most of the time, it’s my teammates who give me the options when I’m building up the game,” Onana said.
“If they help me, the work looks much better.”
