Brutal! Man Utd No.1 Andre Onana told weaknesses are ‘abilities as a goalkeeper’ after error-strewn start to life as David de Gea’s successor

The Cameroon international was acquired by the Red Devils in the summer transfer window when a £48 million ($60m) deal with Serie A giants Inter was pushed through. Onana was considered to be the perfect choice to succeed long-serving David de Gea between the sticks at Old Trafford.

While his ball-playing ability has never been in doubt, questions are being asked of Onana’s struggles to keep opposition shots out of the back of his net. A number of costly mistakes have been made, leading some to suggest that Spanish shot-stopper De Gea could be invited back to Manchester as a free agent.

Former United defender Paul Parker, who won two Premier League titles during his time with the Red Devils, is not a fan of Onana and has told SpilXperten of how the 27-year-old is falling well short of expectations: “Andre Onana´s weaknesses have to be his abilities as a goalkeeper, especially his ability to save the balls, his shot stopper abilities and his handling. He is erratic and he is never in control of his saves, it bounces off him. I hope it will be a David De Gea story, where he all of a sudden he gets to understand English football. Everyone keeps telling me how great he was for Inter Milan but I just can't see it. Italian football is not as intense as English football and he is challenged a lot more now than he was in Italy.”

Parker added: “David De Gea was a goalkeeper you could rely on and Onana is not that. David De Gea´s mind was right, and I´m wondering if he will ever perform well for Man United. His strengths… What are his strengths actually? I don´t know. It has to be that he is actually decently confident on the ball but he is still miles away from Ederson or Allison, even though everyone expected him to be on that level with his feet. He is definitely struggling both mentally and physically, way more than he did in Italy.”

Amid the talk of De Gea potentially being offered a route back to Old Trafford, Parker said of United’s former No.1 – who is a four-time Player of the Year award winner at the Theatre of Dreams: “People were very cynical and disrespectful to David De Gea because he was better at saving balls than playing as an outfield player, but we have to say that Onana is not that good with his feet. He might be above average and it tells me a lot if people were highlighting his abilities with his feet if he is not better than what he has shown so far. I think everyone can see that Onana has a poor back four in front of him, but De Gea had that as well and he did what he did and Onana has never been close to doing that.”

United, with head coach Erik ten Hag beginning to fall under mounting pressure amid inconsistent performances in the Premier League and Champions League, will be back in action on November 26 when taking in a trip to Everton.