Andre Onana has gone from zero to hero this season for Manchester United, now he’s been talking club legends, who he’s keen to emulate.
The Cameroonian joined Manchester United last summer for a fee of just £43m, replacing club legend David de Gea in the process.
After a rocky start to life in goal, he soon made it his own, no matter how difficult a life his defenders gave him. With the magnitude of chances United were conceding on the regular, he deserves huge credit and boasted the highest save percentage in the Premier League.
Andre Onana will be desperate for next season to be less busy, but now in the summer break, he’s been talking with club media for a fan Q&A in which he’s discussed many things including his favourite ever United star.
Onana admits his love for Paul Scholes
While doing a fan Q&A for the club website, Onana was asked who his favourite United player ever is and the Cameroonian had an interesting selection.
He began by touching on two former Old Trafford goalkeepers who he’s been so impressed by in his life.
“Before I joined the club, a lot of them! A lot! As a goalkeeper, you have [Peter] Schmeichel, you have Edwin [Van Der Sar]… I was with him at Ajax. He was such a big goalkeeper who played already here.”
Onana didn’t stop there, however, as he continued to select an outfield player who he was a big fan of for one primary reason.
“But not only them, because I’m a goalkeeper who likes to play from the back and take a lot of risks. I remember when I was at Barcelona, I used to watch Paul Scholes, and I fell in love with the way he was playing long balls. He was just amazing.”
After naming club legend Scholes, for his passing ability, finally, Onana concluded by saying all of the United players who achieved success were his inspiration.
“All of them, they were inspirational for me, because at the end of the day, they achieved a lot of good things with this club, and we are here to try and follow what they did for us. Because they opened doors for us.”
Andre Onana must regain his on-ball confidence for Manchester United
Despite boasting a league-leading save percentage of 74.9 per cent while making 146 saves which is also more than any other in the Premier League according to FBRef, it’s his passing which must be improved.
In the 2023/24 season, Onana completed 72.6 per cent of his passes (1105 out of 1521), a percentage which is the lowest of his career, as per FBRef.
Onana was signed for his ability on the ball which was the main weakness of De Gea, but as of now, the structure isn’t extracting the best of this from the player.
Opposed to playing out from the back, Onana was launching balls long but the reason for this was a lack of technical ability in the centre-half partnership, as with Lisandro Martinez in the team this does change.
With a recruitment focus on finding Martinez a partner this summer, it could be that this is solved with the arrival of a technically sound right-footed centre-back.