Andre Onana is among the best keepers with his feet in world football
CHRIS WHEELER: Man United’s Andre Onana is among the best goalkeepers with his feet in world football… the £47m signing has a turbulent history in the game and his time at Old Trafford certainly won’t be dull
- Manchester United have signed Andre Onana from Inter Milan for £47 million
- His turbulent career that has taken in a doping ban and two European finals
- Onana knows Erik ten Hag well after managing him at Ajax for five years
There were moments just a couple of years ago when Andre Onana wondered if he would still have a career in football, let alone the opportunity to become Manchester United’s new goalkeeper.
The dark days in 2021 after Onana was banned for a doping offence at Ajax. The days when only the support of his family and friends kept the Cameroon goalkeeper from giving up.
‘Football turns its back,’ Onana told The Guardian in 2021. ‘I was just trying to survive, come back better. Try to always see the positive side.
‘But sometimes you can’t. As a goalkeeper it’s difficult: you go, someone else plays. There are moments you think about giving in. I was lucky. I have good people. If that happens and you’re alone you’re going to give up. You won’t have the will to go through it.
‘It’s the way you’re perceived, too. It’s “doping”. You’re a “drug addict”. How are you going to explain to your parents that you’ve tested positive when you’ve never smoked or drunk?’
Andre Onana has joined Manchester United from Inter Milan for £47 million
He arrives with a reputation as one of the best goalkeepers with his feet in world football
Onana tested positive for banned substance furosemide, having taken a diuretic pill prescribed to his wife that looked almost identical to a cold remedy. UEFA accepted that it was an honest mistake but still banned him for a year from February 2021.
The Court of Arbitration were more sympathetic and reduced the punishment to nine months, but it tested his relationship with Ajax manager Erik ten Hag and also the fans when he struggled for form on his return.
‘We all know I’m not in my best shape right now,’ explained Onana. ‘But I only take criticism from the coaches. The rest, they can sing, they can cry, I don’t give a s***. This is how I became who I am. it’s my life, let me write my story.’
It’s fair to say United are acquiring a strong character as well as an accomplished goalkeeper: one who is not afraid to speak his mind, as Cameroon coach Rigobert Song found out at the World Cup in November.
Ten Hag spent four-and-a-half years with Onana at Ajax and turned to the Inter Milan No.1 this summer after deciding that he needed a goalkeeper who is more comfortable with the ball at his feet than David de Gea. Onana is certainly that.
UEFA’s technical observers compared him to a holding midfielder for Inter in the Champions League last season.
The 27-year-old made World Cup history when Cameroon met Switzerland in Qatar last November, having more touches outside his box than any goalkeeper since records began in 1966.
Onana is more than a sweeper keeper, often mopping up behind his full-backs, strolling into midfield with the ball and sometimes even making it to the halfway line.
The 27-year-old knows Erik ten Hag will after playing under him at Ajax for five years
He played in the Dutch side’s Europa League final loss to Manchester United in 2017
In Serie A last season, he completed 81.3 per cent of his attempted passes compared to De Gea’s 71.1 per cent in the Premier League. On long passes, it was 54.7 per cent versus 43.6 per cent.
‘A goalkeeper like Onana can read perfectly where everyone is to pass to,’ said Pep Guardiola before Manchester City faced Inter in the Champions League final last month. ‘Normally teams have great keepers, but he is exceptional with his feet.’
Growing up in the village of Nkol Ngok and then the Cameroon capital Yaounde, Onana only went in goal because his brothers wouldn’t.
‘At that time, they were saying the goalie was the worst player because nobody wants to be in goal. But I was very happy because I was playing with my brothers,’ he recalls.
There were five of them – Marcelin, Christian, Emmanuel, Jean Francois and Andre – but Marcelin sadly passed away.
Onana’s father Francois Xavier, who worked for the water company in Cameroon, and mother Adele wanted him to concentrate on school but he joined the Samuel Eto’o Academy in Douala at the age of 10 and moved to Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth system at 14.
Onana’s route to the first-team at Barca was blocked by Claudio Bravo and a young Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and initially it wasn’t much easier at Ajax.
Some of the coaches there didn’t know what to make of the brash and rather unpredictable youngster, but former United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saw the potential and became a mentor. Onana describes him as a ‘godfather’.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola is an admirer and described Onana as ‘exceptional’ with his feet
The Cameroon international sees United legend Edwin van der Sar as a ‘mentor’
When Barca signed Jasper Cillessen and Tim Krul got an injury, the No.3 keeper was suddenly No.1.’I had a bit of attitude and personality,’ says Onana. ‘I saved a penalty in my second game, everything became easy and I started to have more confidence, you know? We began to win and I became No.1 for years.’
The 6ft 3in African won three Eredivisie titles and two KNVB Cups in Amsterdam, but there were disappointments too: the heartbreaking loss to Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League semi-final under Ten Hag and defeat in the 2017 Europa League final to United.
Onana was so nervous about that game in Stockholm that he told manager Peter Bosz he didn’t feel ready to play. Van der Sar stepped in.’
He gave an interview. “Tell Andre I haven’t brought gloves, so he plays!” I woke up and saw that, and it really helped me,’ recalls Onana.’But we’re all looking at the floor, scared. We only lost on small details and after I said to myself, “never again will I feel fear in football”.
That helped me handle the pressure in the years that followed.’ It was a certainly a very different Onana who faced City and Erling Haaland in the Champions League final in Istanbul last month.
Asked if he was afraid of Haaland, he replied: ‘Of him? Why would I be afraid? You know who I’m afraid of? God. But I don’t see him on the pitch.’
Despite Inter’s narrow 1-0 defeat, Onana shut out Haaland. In one incident, he dribbled around the City striker in his own box and then angrily shoved Haaland in the back for bringing him down.
Onana isn’t afraid to fight his corner. It led to a training ground row at the World Cup with the manager, Song, who wanted his goalkeeper to take fewer risks.
Onana left last year’s World Cup in Qatar early after falling out with Cameroon boss Rigobert Song
He kept Erling Haaland quiet during the Champions League final last season
Onana was sent home from the tournament although Cameroon Football Federation president Eto’o was last week accused by a former executive of wanting to get rid of the player.
Despite quitting international football the following month after 34 appearances, Onana still has a deep affection for Cameroon where he has his own foundation helping under-privileged children and a football club, Eclair de Saa.
But Europe is home for now. Onana and his wife Melanie, who met on a flight from Paris to Yaounde, are moving from Milan to Manchester with their three children.
United have a new No.1. It certainly won’t be dull.
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