Gary Neville, the Manchester United legend, was not wrong when he described this position as ‘the hardest in English football’.
You only have to ask a man who joined Erik ten Hag’s side for a substantial fee of £47 million – replacing the longest-serving player in the Red Devils squad, arguably a modern-day legend no less – and he will not doubt agree with the former right-back’s assessment.
Andre Onana, after all, is not the first Manchester United goalkeeper to find himself a little blinded under the glare of such unrelenting pressure. De Gea himself, albeit still a teenager when he joined from Atletico Madrid, made a couple of high-profile errors too early on in his Old Trafford career. Even Peter Schmeichel, arguably the club’s greatest-ever shot-stopper, was not immune to the odd blunder in his first days under Sir Alex Ferguson.
And who could forget Massimo Taibi? The ‘Blind Venetian’s’ Man United career over after just four games but that fumble immortalised in Premier League history.
Andre Onana silences his Manchester United critics
Fortunately, Onana has been afforded more time – and patience – than Taibi was. And, with the former Inter Milan glovesman now turning in stellar displays on a weekly basis, the patience has more than paid of, Onana putting those mistakes against Galatasaray, Bayern Munich and Galatasaray behind him to save Man United’s skin on countless occasions throughout 2024.
“He’s growing. Obviously, he didn’t start off in the best way,” United right-back Diogo Dalot told Cronache di Spogliatoio after Onana pulled off astounding stops to deny Ellis Simms and Victor Torp as Erik ten Hag’s side survived an almighty scare against Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-final.
“Last year, (at Inter Milan) was fantastic. And the pressure was very high as soon as he arrived at United,” Dalot adds. “He found a completely different reality.
“At Inter, the expectations are high. But, here, it is completely different, even just in terms of culture and the type of championship, which is different from Serie A. The start for him was a bit shocking.
“But the last few months have been positive for him.”
Goalkeeper key to Erik ten Hag’s FA Cup hopes
In fact, you could argue that Onana – alongside Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and maybe Dalot himself – has been Man United’s stand-out performer since the turn of the year. Where would the Red Devils be without him?
Well, probably a damn-sight worse off than seventh place, after all, and without an FA Cup final re-match with Man City to look forward to. Onana, via stats website Fbref, is currently tallying plus-three in the ‘Expected Goals Prevented’ charts, meaning he is saving more shots than he is ‘expected’ to let in based on the quality of the chance.
And that is saying something, given the sheer number of shots Ten Hag’s remarkably ramshackle team concede every time they take to the pitch these days.
“I am always calm. I focus and know my players can shoot penalties. I’m always confident Andre will catch, (at a) minimum, one,” a relieved Ten Hag said after Onana denied both Ben Sheaf and Callum O’Hare from 12 yards in that penalty shoot-out victory over Coventry at Wembley.
“I was quite convinced.”