Man Utd are the biggest threat to Newcastle’s potential deal to sign Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford in the summer, according to reports.
The Red Devils are having a season to forget in the Premier League with their win over Ipswich Town on Wednesday lifting them up to 14th in the table.
Ruben Amorim’s side have been worse under the Portuguese head coach than his predecessor Erik ten Hag with Man Utd only winning five of their first 15 matches with the new boss in charge.
Their attack has come in for lots of criticism this season with Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund scoring just five Premier League goals between them, while only five sides have scored fewer goals than Man Utd this term.
The Red Devils have conceded 39 goals in 27 Premier League matches this campaign with Andre Onana’s form coming in for scrutiny over the last few months.
Onana has the ability to pull of wonderful saves, which has done on a number of occasions, but there are other parts of his game that have failed to impress, while he is partial to a big mistake.
His performance in the win against Ipswich was highlighted again after he was partially at fault for both the visitors’ goals and reports on Thursday reckon Onana’s future is now ‘hanging in the balance’.
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And now Caught Offside claims that Man Utd are ‘ready to hijack’ Newcastle’s move for England Under-21 international Trafford as ‘both’ Onana and Altay Bayindir ‘could leave this summer’.
The report adds:
‘CaughtOffside understands Trafford is emerging as one of Man Utd’s top targets, while Newcastle are also long-term admirers of the 22-year-old.
‘United’s interest could pose a serious threat to the Magpies, though, with sources telling CaughtOffside that they’d be ready to offer the player a five-year contract.
‘It seems a new ‘keeper is growing as a priority inside Old Trafford as Ruben Amorim looks for an upgrade on Onana, while backup shot-stopper Bayindir also seems likely to move on.’
But transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insists that Man Utd see Onana’s current poor form as just a “bad moment” for the Cameroon international.
Romano told GiveMeSport: “It’s a difficult season for many players, not only Onana. Strikers are not scoring, wing backs are suffering… it’s part of a difficult season, this is how they see this bad moment for Onana.”
Man Utd legend Gary Pallister is hoping that Bayindir can provide more of a challenge to Onana before the end of the season.
Pallister told Betano: “I certainly hope Altay Bayindir can challenge Andre Onana for the number one position at the club. That’s why you have more than one player in the position – you’ve got to put pressure on the goalkeeper who usually starts.
“That’s been the way things work at most clubs for a long time – you don’t want players becoming complacent about their position if nobody is threatening them.
“Onana will look at Bayindir having the game he did on Sunday and think, ‘right, I need to up my game to make sure I keep my place’.
“I think Onana has had a pretty good season but has made a couple of blunders recently, so you always need competition for places. Bayindir made a couple of great saves on top of the penalty stops as well, so I think it’s great that he’s putting pressure on Onana.”
