Journalist David Ornstein has revealed how goalkeeper Andre Onana reacted to being dropped for Manchester United’s match against Newcastle United yesterday.
Onana’s status as the club’s number one shot-stopper appeared to be in jeopardy after his disastrous performance in the 2-2 draw with Olympique Lyonnais earlier in the week.
It therefore came as little surprise that manager Ruben Amorim decided to drop Onana for the Newcastle game, replacing him with Altay Bayindir.
Despite the change in goalkeepers, United’s fortunes on the pitch remained woeful, with Amorim’s team being hammered 4-1 by Newcastle.
Given that Bayindir’s performance made little difference to his team’s fortunes, it would have been fascinating to know how Onana would have responded to his axing.
This morning, Ornstein came back with an answer.
“He [Onana] didn’t travel with the squad to the northeast of England. This was a decision made by Ruben Amorim, the Manchester United head coach. It was accepted professionally by Onana,” Ornstein told NBC Sports as quoted by GIVEMESPORT.
“Amorim wanted to take him out of the firing line, his performances, his comments before the Lyon tie, the very distressing mugging suffered by his wife recently in the local area,” Ornstein explained, adding more context to the situation.
“And this is something he was informed about on Saturday yesterday, so he would have known it before the stories broke.”
Given Ornstein’s update, it appears that Amorim has not necessarily lost patience with Onana but rather decided to give the Cameroonian a break from the limelight given his challenging situation.
Still, even as it appears that Onana and Amorim’s relationship might still be healthy, transfer rumours regarding Onana continue to swirl around.
Yesterday, it was reported that United could part ways with him for just £20 million, given their supposed desperation to offload him.
Although Amorim may be sensitive to Onana’s struggles, the goalkeeper will need to improve his form in order to convince his manager that he is indeed the type of talented goalkeeper that United need going forward.
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Mathew Cohen
A faithful Manchester United supporter, Mathew has worked as a football writer and analyst for SB Nation, FanSided, and now The Peoples Person. Mathew’s heroes include David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sir Alex Ferguson, all of whom played their part in creating some special childhood memories.
