'F*ck what anyone else has said' - Man Utd stars urged to 'rally around' Andre Onana as Rio Ferdinand makes comparison with 'fragile' David de Gea

Rio Ferdinand is among those to have watched on from afar this season as Onana has endured a testing start to life in English football on the back of his £48 million ($59m) transfer from Inter. The 27-year-old has made a number of costly errors, with clean sheets proving hard to come by as a result.

Onana is not the first keeper to suffer early struggles at Old Trafford – with Peter Schmiechel and David de Gea doing likewise – and ex-Red Devils defender Ferdinand has told TNT Sports of the approach that needs to be taken: “I think that’s why probably me and David have still got a relationship now because I think those moments there, it’s about the experienced players making the young ones feel confident. When they’re making good plays, it’s just reassuring them. When they’re making a mistake, it’s not berating them. Sometimes there’s going to be times when you have to berate someone like that. But when you know they’re young and they’re fragile, like David was, you have got to box clever around those situations. He wasn’t one for being talked to for a long period of time, he wanted to feel that his team-mates had the confidence and I think that’s a big thing. If your team-mates have got confidence in you, it’s almost like: ‘f*ck what anyone else has said because I know the people that really matter and are around me, have confidence in me’. I think that’s what the players, the experienced players at Man United now have to rally around.”

Ferdinand believes that Onana can play his way through a slight wobble, adding on the Cameroon international and the character that he needs to show: “He seems like quite a confident kid to be fair. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times before the Burnley game, especially on the pitch before the game. He seemed confident, mistakes are part of it. He understands that, but we have to remember as well, he’s not a goalkeeper that hasn’t had these moments before. He’s made mistakes before and came back and played for Milan in the Champions League final, played for Ajax in the Champion League semi-final. He’s got the experience of making mistakes, rebuilding and going again. I think he’s made of the right stuff and speaking to the staff there, that’s what they talk about. You can tell he’s got the character to ride something like this.”

United will be back in action on Tuesday when facing Copenhagen in the Champions League, with their next Premier League outing set to see them take in a derby date with Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday.