- De Gea allowed to leave as a free agent
- Cameroonian shot-stopper snapped up
- Dutch coach has worked with him before
WHAT HAPPENED? The Cameroon international has, at the end of a protracted transfer saga, been acquired by the Red Devils in a big-money deal with Serie A giants Inter. Onana has been snapped up as the successor to David de Gea, with the long-serving Spaniard being allowed to leave Old Trafford as a free agent at the end of his contract. United consider Onana to be the perfect modern day keeper – one that is good with his feet and hands – with the 27-year-old ticking plenty of boxes for Ten Hag.
WHAT THEY SAID: Ten Hag has told United’s official website of why he was keen to be reunited with a shot-stopper that he has previously worked with at Ajax: “Most important, always for a keeper, is clean sheets and he's not doing that on his own. Therefore, you need a very good defensive organisation, [it's] quite clear. But also the capabilities of a keeper is [about] keeping the goal clean. So this is the first criterion of a good goalkeeper.
“But, nowadays, football also demands good playing from the back, out-playing qualities, and that is a quality Andre has. You need both and you need to cover both areas. So yeah, we're happy, of course. I think with his physical presence and also with his personality, he is so keen on winning. He's so, so eager to win trophies and he will help the team and he will help the squad to get to higher levels.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Onana also worked with Red Devils centre-half Lisandro Martinez at Ajax, with Ten Hag seeing further benefits in that potentially productive defensive partnership. The Dutch coach added: “Did he have a good relationship with Martinez at Ajax? Yeah, of course. With the centre-half, it’s very important, that communication. That is always very important. It's about the co-operation, the team. The keeper with his back four, the keeper with his whole team. It has to be connected. So you need the social and communication skills to get that on the highest level, on the level with the demand and the standards are very high in the Premier League and especially with Manchester United.”
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT? De Gea won the Premier League Golden Glove as the last line of United’s defence last season, with 17 clean sheets collected, so Onana will be hoping to slot seamlessly into a unit that has already shown that it can contend with the threat posed by star-studded rivals in the English top-flight.