Manchester United were unlucky not to get anything from their Premier League opener against Arsenal at Old Trafford last Sunday.
The hosts were by far the better team and completely dominated the Gunners like few teams have managed in recent seasons.
Yet, a goalkeeping howler from Altay Bayindir was enough for Mikel Arteta’s side to grab all three points courtesy of a 0-1 victory.
Ruben Amorim, just like last season when he defended Rasmus Hojlund vociferously, backed the Turk during the post-match press conference and rubbished talks that he should not have started.
Bayindir out?
But while he has always backed his players in public, in private he remains a hard taskmaster, who is not afraid to drop players if they do not perform to the best of their abilities.
And as per The Manchester Evening News, the head coach is considering dropping the Turkiye international for the game against Fulham in favour of recalling Andre Onana for his first start this season.
The Cameroonian, who had missed the club’s pre-season tour due to injury, was not deemed ready and hence missed the season opener.
But now, Amorim feels his No.1 has had the requisite training sessions and is in a much better place fitness-wise.
Interestingly, Samuel Luckhurst mentions that such a move could kill the ex-Fenerbahce star’s confidence.
“Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim is giving serious consideration to recalling goalkeeper Andre Onana against Fulham.
“Onana has recovered from a hamstring injury that prevented him from playing during pre-season and he had three team training sessions before the opening Premier League defeat to Arsenal.
“Amorim deemed Onana too undercooked to start against the Premier League runners-up of the past three seasons and Altay Bayindir kept his place.
Onana back in
“Bayindir was widely criticised for his feeble ‘keeping that led to Riccardo Calafiori’s 13th-minute winner and Amorim is leaning towards starting Onana at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
“Well-placed sources say Onana and Bayindir enjoy an excellent relationship but that a demotion for Bayindir could kill his confidence.”
Whether Amorim goes ahead with this will be interesting to see. Apart from his howler, Altay Bayindir was excellent with his distribution, something Onana was brought to the club for, but has failed to replicate.
Amorim’s ruthlessness has been on display with the way he has treated Hojlund, and Bayindir could face a similar fate with talks of a move for Senne Lammens gathering pace.
Feature image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
