Andre Onana could change Man Utd more than any outfield transfer post-Fergie

Andre Onana could entirely change the way Manchester United play. And more importantly for us, he could be bloody good fun to watch.
Who’s this then?
André Onana is a 6’3″ Nkol Ngok-born, 27-year-old Cameroonian goalkeeper who has just signed for Manchester United for over £43million.
He joined Samuel Eto’o’s academy as a wee man, graduating to sign for Barcelona aged 14, then – since he was underage – he was loaned to Cornellà and then Vista Alegre. In 2015 he signed for Ajax for 150,000 Euros and his career got going initially in the second tier with the youth team, but then into the first team.
Across the next six years he played 214 times, winning three league titles, two cups and a Europa League runners-up medal, losing the final to Manchester United.
At the end of his contract he went on a free transfer last year to Inter Milan and won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana as well getting to the Champions League final. It was to be his only season in Italy as moneybags Manchester United fired up the cash cannon.
He’s been a full international since 2016, now with 34 caps and helping Cameroon to a third-place finish in the Africa Cup Of Nations in 2021. However, he has supposedly retired from international football following a dispute with the manager. That would be a shame if it continues.
Why the love?
Set to once more play under his former Ajax boss, Erik Ten Hag, it isn’t a mystery why the Dutchman targeted him: he’s superb on the deck. In fact, he was described as resembling a ‘holding midfielder at times’ in UEFA’s Technical Observers’ report on the 2022–23 Champions League. This is rather in contrast to his predecessor in the Old Trafford goal.
The days of a goalkeeper just being a shot-stopper are well behind us at pretty much all levels. This makes so much sense that it’s puzzling that goalies, for so many decades, were only required to hoof the ball as far up the pitch as possible, or roll it out for the full-back to do likewise.
Being good on the ball and being able to pass it accurately is so important on several levels. It allows the team to move further up the pitch if your keeper can act as a sweeper. It’s also crucial if you’re going to split packed defences with an accurate long pass. And you also need the keeper to spot a teammate breaking on a counter-attack as soon as he collects the ball and then be able to find him. Top teams that lack a keeper who can do this tend to look slower and are less incisive.
At 27, Onana is likely coming into his peak years and he’s already had experience of two European finals and obviously the United manager knows exactly what he can do. That said, he will give fans the occasional heart attack with a Cruyff turn in his own six-yard box and he’s the sort of keeper who does look like he’s got what a commentator will call ‘a rash act’ in him. Clearly, Ten Hag reckons that an occasional howler is worth it when put against everything else he can do.
I love that he can do that side-on, fast, accurate pass out of his hands to a teammate in the top third. That always looks so impressive. He’ll also take the ball out to the top of his back third and drill it fast and low to the strikers.
At 6’3″ and built like the proverbial brick outhouse, he is a tremendous physical presence and won’t be bullied at set plays. In fact he has the look of a middleweight boxer about him. Basically, if he runs into you, it’ll hurt a lot. And on top of everything else, he does appear to have the requisite amount of goalkeeping eccentricity as well as enormous self-belief and doesn’t mind tearing a strip off anyone.
But easily the most remarkable thing about him is that he will leave his goal, dribble up-field, play a wall pass off his defender and move into midfield. And it doesn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. He is so confident on the ball that he clearly doesn’t fear losing possession. Ten Hag will have to instruct his defenders on what to do when their keeper is 45 yards away from his goal. It all promises to be tremendous fun.
Three great moments
Some extraordinary work here:
United fans better get used to seeing him acting as an outfield player.
Cruyff turns in the six-yard box a speciality
Future days?
He’s signed a five-year contract. For £43.8 million with another £3.4 million in add-ons, he’s expensive but not excessively so by United’s more typical financial profligacy. It could turn out to be the club’s most influential and important signings of recent years because it has the potential to transform how the whole team plays more than pretty much any other player.
He will drive a more attacking, progressive format, which is surely what all United fans want from their team. He is also a big personality and you need that to survive at Old Trafford. While David De Gea was a brilliant shot-saver, he never dominated his box the way Onana will. And when De Gea received the ball it slowed the play down because he just didn’t have the ability to consistently and accurately find teammates with a sharp pass.
It feels likely that his adventures up-field will give everyone much enjoyment and give some absolute kittens. But overall he feels like an excellent purchase and given he cost Inter Milan nothing to sign and they’re now 52.50 million Euros better off, safe to say, everyone is happy with André Onana.