Ball-playing Onana key to Ten Hag plan
New £44m goalkeeper from Inter will enable United to build attacks from the back in way De Gea never could
Andre Onana, who yesterday completed a £44million move to Manchester United from Inter Milan, has revealed previously that if he had not been a goalkeeper he would probably have become a policeman. “I like to protect,” he said, although that only points to part of the Cameroonian’s skill set.
Onana also likes to play, often with a confidence that few modern goalkeepers can match, and it is predominantly because of his ability with the ball at his feet that Erik ten Hag has identified his former No1 at Ajax as the ideal man to replace David de Gea.
One of the most glaring aspects of the FA Cup and Champions League finals last month was the difference between the two goalkeepers Manchester City faced. Whereas De Gea’s limitations were on full display during a lamentable display in United’s 2-1 defeat at Wembley, Inter Milan’s success in disrupting City’s usual rhythm and getting at Pep Guardiola’s side owed much to Onana’s poise, precision and positioning in possession.
Onana often took up advanced positions ahead of his central defenders, essentially operating as an auxiliary midfielder, from where he helped Inter to build play. The final was one of five matches in Inter’s Champions League campaign in which he completed 30 or more passes and one in particular, in the 72nd minute, encapsulated his qualities and impact. Driving a bending ball low into Lautaro Martinez in the opposition half, Onana took out six City players across the first two lines of pressure to set up a three-versus-three attack and help create a chance for Romelu Lukaku.
The contrast with De Gea at Wembley, and in general, could not have been more stark and underlines why Ten Hag felt he could not muddle through another season with the Spaniard in goal. That had originally been the plan but De Gea’s torrid end to the season, which included howlers in defeats by Sevilla and West Ham, forced a full reappraisal and led Ten Hag to determine that a new goalkeeper was as much of a priority as a new centre-forward. De Gea was partly culpable for Ilkay Gundogan’s winning goal but, moreover, the game reinforced just what a hindrance he was to Ten Hag’s desire to play out from the back.
De Gea turned over possession on 20 occasions, finishing the match with a 49 per cent passing accuracy notable for the number of aimless long kicks. Yet, for much of last season, the sight of De Gea invariably rooted to his line, riven with self-doubt with the ball at his feet and creating apprehension in others was commonplace. Not even the Premier League Golden Glove award for most clean sheets could mask that.
The game has moved on and De Gea has been left behind in that regard, but if he represents an analogue age, Onana is at the forefront of the digital movement and a goalkeeper Ten Hag is convinced will
play a significant role in the evolution of United’s playing style under him. Not that Onana’s career has been without its controversies or problems. In February 2021 when still at Ajax under Ten Hag, Onana was banned for a year by Uefa after failing a drugs test four months earlier. The suspension was later reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which found “no significant fault”.
Onana had woken with a headache after returning home in the early hours following a European match against Atalanta in Italy and took what he thought was a paracetamol from the medicine box in his kitchen. Yet instead of Litacold, it subsequently transpired that Onana had accidentally taken a Furosemide-based diuretic – a banned substance – prescribed to his wife after she had given birth.
The 27-year-old has expressed deep frustration about the stigma attached to his doping ban and, in one interview, recalled being stopped by police in Belgium and hearing one of the officers who recognised him say to his colleague: “This guy takes loads of drugs.”
Yet the way he bounced back after such a long time being unable to play spoke volumes for his strength of character. Onana’s standing among his fellow goalkeepers was reflected when Manuel Neuer, the Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper, sent him a video lauding his and Ajax’s form in 2019 and described himself as Onana’s “biggest fan”. That reputation has grown over the past year after an impressive season with Inter that convinced Ten Hag that Onana was hitting even greater heights.
Onana will often take up positions ahead of his defenders, essentially playing as an auxiliary midfieler