Odd mistake ruined Onana’s Manchester United career – Van der Sar 

Manchester United legend, Edwin van der Sar, has claimed that goalkeeping mistakes led to the short stay of Andre Onana at Old Trafford. The Dutch goalkeeper brought stability between the sticks after his move from Fulham, and won the UEFA Champions League with the club, disclosed his opinion of Onana on The Overlap podcast hosted […]

Manchester United legend, Edwin van der Sar, has claimed that goalkeeping mistakes led to the short stay of Andre Onana at Old Trafford.

The Dutch goalkeeper brought stability between the sticks after his move from Fulham, and won the UEFA Champions League with the club, disclosed his opinion of Onana on The Overlap podcast hosted by Gary Neville, also a Man United legend.

Andre Onana joined Manchester United in a blockbuster £47 million move from Inter Milan in the summer of 2023, but the Cameroon international’s two-year stay with the Red Devils was marred by costly mistakes in goal.

This ultimately led to a season-long loan move to Trabzonspor last September, and van der Sar, Ajax Amsterdam CEO when Onana arrived at the Dutch club, was sympathetic towards the 29 years old goalkeeper.

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Va der Sar, who later sanctioned Onana’s move to Inter where he featured in the 2023 UCL final, disclosed that he believed his move to Old Trafford was a match made in heaven, solving Man United’s long-standing goalkeeper problem.

He, however. added that the ball-playing, erratic goalkeeper always had the possibility of making mistakes in matches despite his “tremendous qualities.”

“I absolutely thought that he [André] 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.

“I worked with Andre Onana for three or four years at Ajax. 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 – reflections and his feet – but somehow, he has the odd mistake in him that makes you think ‘That’s crazy, how can he do that’.”

The former Dutch international also blamed an ever-changing defence and lack of stability on and off the pitch in the last decade for the underperformance of Onana and others Man United despite their huge potential.

“A team wants stability, to know what your goalkeeper is doing so the back four can relate and I think that’s what happened [the issue] with André.

“Manchester United haven’t had stability for the last six or seven years – the back four 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.”

Onana has kept only four clean sheets in 19 matches for third-placed Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super Lig, and has contributed an assist.