by André Onana is increasingly concerned that he may struggle to regain his place at Manchester United if he goes to the African Cup of Nations with Cameroon next year.
Onana’s position is under fresh scrutiny after an error-plagued performance in United’s chaotic 3-3 draw against Galatasaray.
It was the latest in a series of mistakes made by Onana this season and the goalkeeper is believed to fear his situation at Old Trafford could become even more complicated if his substitute Altay Bayindir makes the most of his possible month-long absence in January and February due to African Nations in Ivory Coast.
Cameroon are due to start their tournament against Guinea on January 15 and Onana would miss four Premier League matches and a possible FA Cup fourth-round tie if his country reached the final on February 11.
Onana quit international football after a row with Cameroon coach Rigobert Song, which led to him returning home from the World Cup in Qatar 12 months ago. He agreed to return for the final African Nations qualifier against Burundi in September amid pressure from the Cameroon government and Federation and is expected to be included in the squad for the tournament.
However, Onana is believed to be reluctant to move away from United at a time when he is determined to overcome his problems and show why manager Erik ten Hag asked the club to invest £47m in the summer to sign the goalkeeper. of Inter. Milan.
Turkish goalkeeper Bayindir, who is yet to feature for the club since his £4.3m move from Fenerbahce on September 1, is desperate for the chance to prove his worth and knows Onana’s potential absence early next year could give you that opportunity, assuming it doesn’t arrive before then.
It’s time for Ten Hag to drop Onana now.
The simple truth is that if an outfield player had made the volume of individual errors that Andre Onana has for Manchester United this season, he would have been ruled out by now.
If Erik ten Hag has already considered leaving his starting goalkeeper out of the team for a while, to date he has resisted the temptation.
However, after Onana’s latest error in Wednesday’s chaotic 3-3 draw against Galatasaray in Istanbul, it has become more difficult for the United boss to continue dwelling on the issue.
Ten Hag’s patience and support has been admirable, but there are games to be won and, with the unforgiving December fixture schedule, that is precisely what Ten Hag needs with his goalkeeper.
There are enough insecurities on this team, and there has been enough turbulence on the defensive line due to lingering injury problems, without players questioning a goalkeeper who is causing concern.
As several Galatasaray players exchanged words with Onana after the final whistle, including his former Ajax teammate Hakim Ziyech, whose free kicks the Cameroonian had so miserably failed to save, the only United player to console him was the man who probably would replace between the posts if Ten Hag swung the axe.
Altay Bayindir had come onto the pitch to offer Onana some consolation and deserves credit for doing so, just as it was wise management on Ten Hag’s part not to publicly point fingers at his number one as the culprit after a resounding result.
Throwing players under the bus is no way to foster trust and unity, and Onana will need some love, but a period out of the spotlight may be best for him right now.
The ownership of Bayindir, who has never played in the Premier League before and, like Onana, only arrived at the club in the summer, will bring its own risks. But are they anything more important than keeping faith in Onana right now?
Galatasaray are not the first rivals to adopt a shoot-on-the-spot policy against United this season and it is hard to believe that Newcastle, who they face in an imposing match at St James’ Park on Saturday night, will resist to a similar approach.
From then on, United will have Chelsea, Bournemouth, Bayern Munich and Liverpool to play with; It’s not the kind of run you want when your goalie has a crisis of confidence.
Likewise, with Onana likely to be absent for part of January and perhaps February due to the African Cup of Nations, Bayindir will probably have to return at some point, so why not now?
But will Ten Hag become ruthless? Given the way he stood rigidly behind David de Gea last season, even when mistakes began to multiply and the Dutchman had resolved that he needed a new goalkeeper, he is not safe.
Having committed £47m to sign Onana from Inter Milan in the summer, 12 months after he became available on a free transfer, Ten Hag no doubt feels loyalty to the player and needs to make the signing work. Likewise, he may be more inclined to focus on the three clean sheets Onana has kept in United’s last three League games than on Wednesday’s aberrations and his other mistakes.
You may also believe that Onana requires a show of faith more than ever right now. It is a huge dilemma for the Dutchman.
But Ten Hag’s other summer signings have paid a price for failing to deliver, so it should be no different with Onana, whose mistake against Bayern Munich in United’s Champions League Group A opener in September , for which he apologized, would set the tone for things. come.
Mason Mount had to get used to life on the bench before another injury ruled him out of the competition and Sofyan Amrabat’s start against Galatasaray was unusual.
That doesn’t mean Ten Hag was wrong to bring in a new goalkeeper and the sudden revisionism about De Gea serves no purpose. United’s rather botched handling of his departure was unfortunate and the Spaniard deserved better after such service.
But there was hardly an army of United fans who were vocally opposed to his departure and many felt a change was needed between the posts for Ten Hag to evolve the team’s build-up play from the back.
At the same time, De Gea’s departure necessitated the arrival of an upgrade and, while these are still early days for Onana, he has so far fallen short of the required standards.
At 27 years old and having played in a Champions League final in June, Onana’s problems cannot be attributed to inexperience, the naivety of youth or physical development problems, as was the case when 20-year-old De Gea years, he was finding his feet in the Premier League for the first time.
United were supposed to buy the goalkeeper ready-made, but, from his suspicious handling and strange positioning and set-up, to his erratic style and wandering approach, Onana seems anything but. Even the attribute for which he was best known, his distribution, has been far from convincing.
Ten Hag may be cautious about demoting his number one, but United cannot continue to make so many mistakes and expect them not to impede progress.
