08 March 2024 , 11:38
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A young Manchester United player allegedly took aim at Andre Onana during a training session because he felt the goalkeeper wasn't saving enough shots earlier this season.
Onana, 27, joined the Red Devils in a £47million summer transfer from Inter Milan and was quickly installed as the club's first-choice goalkeeper following the departure of David de Gea. He arrived at Old Trafford with an impressive reputation, however, he has endured a difficult maiden campaign.
The Cameroon international has made a catalogue of costly errors which has led to United losing games this season. Those mistakes, coupled with poor individual performances such as his calamitous display against Galatasaray, were a major contributing factor to United's early exit from the Champions League.
A new report from The Athletic has shed some new light on Onana's struggles, revealing that things reached a head after that sobering night in Istanbul. It's claimed a young player with a dearth of first-team experience mocked Onana during a training session, asking the crestfallen shot-stopper, "Are you going to save one or what?" following a string of unsaved shots.
Plenty of people questioned Erik ten Hag's judgement in the early weeks of Onana's United career, but the Dutchman stuck by the shot-stopper, who he worked with at Ajax. Onana's reputation was at an all-time high at the time of his arrival after playing an influential role in Inter Milan's run to the Champions League final last year.
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Onana has slowly but surely found his feet in a Manchester United shirt and looked more assured in recent weeks. Ahead of last weekend's Manchester derby, he admitted that the second half of 2023 was probably the most challenging period of his career.
“It was a difficult time for me,” said Onana. “Now I'm feeling a bit better. I already know the goalkeeper that I am, but it took me six months or seven months not to play good, just to feel good.
Join the debate! What have you made of Onana this season? Let us know here.
Onana has found his feet in recent months after a difficult start to life at Old Trafford (Getty Images)“When I moved from Amsterdam to Milan, that adaptation was quite easy. But it took me seven, eight months here. It was just time to learn and go game by game.
“Everything was new, it was difficult for me to feel at home, for so many reasons, in a new country. It was just moments. Sometimes you're faced with a difficult situation, just not feeling good, not playing good, because I didn’t think I started to play good.
“So, it was just something strange, but it was a good time for me to learn. Because I learned a lot at that time. Playing in the final of the Champions League for Inter and being knocked out in the first stage a few months later, was a big lesson for me. Now I think I have everything on my back, learn from it, move on and try to be happy. That is the most important thing.”
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