Andre Onana won’t be joining the Manchester United squad for their Premier League clash against Newcastle United on Sunday.
Reliable sources indicate that Onana was left out of the squad travelling to Newcastle on Saturday, but he could be back in contention for the Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon on Thursday. However, it remains uncertain whether Onana will start the Old Trafford tie if substitute ‘keeper Altay Bayindir, who is expected to step in at Newcastle, puts in a stellar performance.
United’s head coach Ruben Amorim has advised Onana to take some time off and recuperate after his mistakes led to both of Lyon’s goals in United’s 2-2 draw in France.
Onana misjudged Thiago Almada’s inswinging free-kick, allowing it to find the net, and then mishandled Almada’s shot in the 95th minute, which Rayan Cherki converted on the rebound. Cherki’s goal marked the end of the game, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The Manchester Evening News reported on Friday that Onana was worried about being benched for the Newcastle match following his recent blunders. Bayindir has made seven appearances for United since his transfer from Fenerbahce in September 2023, but he is yet to make his Premier League debut.
Onana, aged 29, stirred the pot by claiming United were “way better” than Lyon just days before their first-leg clash. Lyon’s midfielder Nemanja Matic fired back at Onana during a pre-match press conference on Wednesday, labelling him “one of the worst goalkeepers in the history of Manchester United”.
Onana hit back with a social media post pointing out Matic’s five-year stint at United without silverware. United’s coach Amorim didn’t join the fray post-match, choosing instead to defend Onana. “It can happen,” he said regarding Onana’s errors.
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“If you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes. If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months. The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.”
“I don’t know (if Matic unsettled Onana), that can happen. The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, talk with (goalkeeping coaches Jorge) Vital and Craig (Mawson), this is the best way to help any player. It’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player in.
‘I didn’t see [Onana], to be honest with you. I use these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things. It’s normal. I felt the dressing room was really quiet. We draw away, in Europe, that is always hard, but the team is suffering, we need to change that.”
United secured Onana’s services from Inter Milan in July 2023, and since then, he has made 94 appearances for the club. His commitment to the team is evident, having missed just one match due to international duty with Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2024.
