I thought it was “a match made in heaven” when he joined from Inter, says ex-goalkeeper
Edwin van der Sar believes Andre Onana has “tremendous qualities” as a goalkeeper and says it was unfortunate that the Cameroonian was simply unable to transform the way he needed to in order to succeed at Manchester United.
Van der Sar, who knows a few things about being a successful goalkeeper at United, was chief executive at Ajax when Onana joined the Dutch club in 2015.
“I worked with Andre Onana for three or four years at Ajax,” said Van der Sar. “He came in as a third-choice goalkeeper and was very eager to step up and become the first choice.
“I thought, and I still think, that he has tremendous qualities – reflexes and his feet – but somehow, he has the odd mistake in him that makes you think ‘That’s crazy, how can he do that?’.”
Onana joined Manchester United in 2023 but was an instant fail, struggling in goal, failing in his ability to play out accurately from the back, and making a series of high profile errors.
He was eventually shipped out to Trabzonspor last summer, and as a replacement, the club signed 23-year-old Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp, who has been an instant hit.
“A team wants stability, to know what your goalkeeper is doing so the back four can relate, and I think that’s what happened with Andre,” Van der Sar said; “Manchester United haven’t had stability for the last six or seven years. The back four is changing, the centre-halves and midfielders changing, coaches changing.
“So it’s difficult for new players to come into an environment where the expectations are high, not only for goalkeepers but also for a winger or midfielder.
“A lot of players who have come here in the last eight or nine years have not reached the level that people expected them to reach.
“I absolutely thought that he would succeed when he first came here. As I said, I worked with him and saw him at Ajax, he did well in Italy and played in a Champions League final, so I thought it was a match made in heaven.”
