Several Reds have essentially been transfer-listed this summer. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Manchester United are open to bringing Andre Onana’s tenure to a premature end this summer.
The issue, however, will be finding a suitor willing to fork out a respectable fee for his services.
United paid £47 million to sign him fron Inter Milan in the summer of 2023, with Erik ten Hag adamant that Onana was the most suitable candidate to replace longstanding servant David de Gea between the sticks.
INEOS ready to cut their losses with Andre Onana
Yet, the situation has not panned out anywhere near the way the club would’ve hoped.
The warning signs were perhaps there when he was beaten by a halfway line strike in his first-ever non-competitive appearance for the club against RC Lens in pre-season. Since then, Onana has accumulated a catalogue of costly howlers and has consequently established himself as one of the most error-prone – if not the most – goalkeepers in the top flight.
An issue for United is that second-in-line Altay Bayindir has also failed to produce the level of performance required of him, meaning funds will likely have to be allocated to the goalkeeping department before the new campaign gets underway.
Ditch lacklustre Onana and sign Emi Martinez instead, says ex-Red
In regards to the options United could turn to, they’ve been heavily linked with Aston Villa hero Emiliano Martinez, who bid a tearful goodbye to the Villa Park faithful in his final home appearance of the season last month.
Unai Emery was not under the impression his No.1 — hailed as ‘the best in the world’ by none other than Lionel Messi — was considering a summer move, and told reporters on the final day that there was ‘no way’ Villa’s 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford marked Martinez’s final game for the team. His behaviour would have you believe otherwise, though.
The 32-year-old is widely regarded as one of the most dependable shot-stoppers in the game right now. His efforts at the 2024 World Cup proved integral to Argentina being crowned champions, while he has also individually claimed the Yashin Trophy twice (2023 and 2024), as well as The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper in the same years.
Weighing in on Ruben Amorim’s dilemma on the goalkeeping front, ex-Red Ben Foster told talkSPORT: “It’s a brutal league, the Premier League, and I kind of think [over] the last two seasons that he (Onana) hasn’t done enough to prove that he is a Manchester United No 1.
“I think he’s got ability and like so many other Man United players, he’d go elsewhere and probably flourish. I think that’s probably going to be the case with him as well.”
“If the opportunity does come to sign somebody like an Emi Martinez, they’ve got to go for it. He’s still one of the best goalkeepers in the world,” Foster claimed.
“A lot of people said this season [that Martinez was] probably not up to the standard of the previous two years, but [he’s] still one of the best goalkeepers in the world.”
