Manchester United’s handling of Andre Onana has been characterized by short-sightedness from a major club.
Rainier Koers, not a full-time staff member at Manchester United, emphasized that a performance psychologist shouldn’t have been necessary to analyze the Andre Onana situation.
United successfully retained Onana for their initial two games this month, leaving his Cameroon teammates unprepared for the Africa Cup of Nations. Cameroon’s first match against Guinea kicked off a day after United’s draw with Tottenham.
While both Tottenham goals weren’t outright goalkeeper errors, Onana was partially responsible. Despite being recruited for his sweeping skills, Onana remained stationary during the corner that Richarlison nodded in. For Rodrigo Bentancur’s strike early in the second half, Onana shrank when he should have expanded.
Had Onana been more upright, he could have stopped the ball. This amounts to two more preventable goals conceded by the £47.2 million goalkeeper, who had transferred to Inter Milan on a free 12 months earlier.
After the match, Onana rushed to Manchester Airport to board a private jet, flying nearly 5,000 miles to Abidjan in Ivory Coast. He arrived in Yamoussoukro three hours before kick-off and was omitted from the squad.
Reportedly, the 27-year-old complained to former Liverpool forward El Hadi-Diouf, “If I wasn’t going to play or make the team, then why did I come here on a private jet?”
“I have a lot to say, but I will not say it here because we are in competition,” Onana told Canal+. “Let me continue to be criticized; I am used to it. I do what is good for my country.”
United shares responsibility. Erik ten Hag has become so fixated on making a success out of Onana that the signing is becoming more of a failure. Some staff at United were perplexed by the insistence that Onana had to stay for an FA Cup tie against Wigan, 18th in League One.
Altay Bayindir, a £4.28 million signing from Fenerbahce, has yet to play, and Tom Heaton, a number three worthy of a number two status and wanted by Luton as their No.1 in the summer, has been mistreated. The FA Cup tie against Wigan was an ideal warm-up to trial Bayindir.
Onana, apart from his sudden-death penalty denial of Jordan Larsson, has not saved United any points. No player cost them more in the Champions League group stage, and he has conceded double-figure preventable goals.
It is not a stretch to imagine his focus was wavering against Tottenham when he had a flight to catch. Onana was sent home from the World Cup 14 months ago and exiled from the Cameroon squad for nine months. United signed him assuming his international career was over.
An amateur psychologist can pinpoint how that backstory could compromise Onana’s performance against Tottenham. He impressively denied Thelo Aasgaard early on at the DW Stadium, but the pressure fixture last week was against the team eight points better off than United.
United has given the illusion that Onana, the only player who has started in all 30 of their matches this season, is indispensable. It is small-time thinking from a big club. He should have joined the Cameroon squad after the defeat at Nottingham Forest on December 30.
Liverpool bid farewell to Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, two world-class forwards, two years ago, and Senegal and Egypt met in the AFCON final. In their absence, Liverpool won all but one game in a season they won both domestic cup competitions, reached the Champions League final, and lost the Premier League by a point.
Chelsea and Manchester City were deprived of Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure midway through title-winning campaigns. Drogba was named in the AFCON team of the tournament in both seasons Chelsea reached the Champions League final.
By the time the AFCON group stage is over, Cameroon could be out, and Onana would be available to take a considerably shorter flight from Manchester to Cardiff when United play Newport on Sunday week. Newport is 85th in the 92-team Football League ladder.
A performance psychologist might advise Onana to sit that one out.
