Van der Sar surprised by Andre Onana struggles at Man United

Edwin van der Sar has admitted he is taken aback by Andre Onana’s difficult life at Manchester United, given how highly he rated the goalkeeper from their years together at Ajax.

“I worked with Andre Onana for three or four years at Ajax. He arrived as the third-choice goalkeeper and had an incredible drive to break into the starting eleven,” Van der Sar recalled, highlighting the Cameroonian’s hunger and mentality. He praised Onana’s “amazing qualities”, especially his reflexes and distribution, but acknowledged that “occasionally, he makes these strange mistakes where you think, ‘This is madness, how could he do that?’”.

For Van der Sar, the bigger issue at United has been a lack of defensive stability. “A team needs stability; you need to know exactly what to expect from your goalkeeper so the defensive line can trust him. That is precisely what I feel has been lacking at [Manchester United] with Andre,” he said, noting that many signings over the last eight or nine years have underperformed.

Even so, he insists he “was absolutely certain he would succeed” when Onana moved to Old Trafford, pointing to his performances at Ajax and in Italy, where he helped his side reach a Champions League final.