Andre Onana will not be joining the Manchester United team for their Premier League match against Newcastle United on Sunday, according to reports. Onana has been left out of the squad travelling to Newcastle, but he may be called back for the Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon on Thursday.
However, it remains uncertain whether Onana will start the Old Trafford match if substitute goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, who is expected to replace him at Newcastle, performs well.
United’s head coach Ruben Amorim has advised Onana to take a break and recuperate after being responsible for both of Lyon’s goals in United’s 2-2 draw in France, according to the MEN. Adding to his woes, Onana’s wife, Melanie Kamayou, was robbed outside an Alderley Edge restaurant last month, with police confirming the arrest of a 25 year old man from Bradford in relation to the incident.
Onana failed to stop Thiago Almada’s inswinging free-kick and fumbled Almada’s 95th-minute shot, which was then converted by Rayan Cherki. Cherki’s goal marked the end of the game.
Bayindir, who joined United from Fenerbahce in September 2023, has played seven times for the club but is yet to make his Premier League debut.
Onana, 29, stirred the pot by claiming his team was “way better” than Lyon just days before their first leg clash. In a fiery retort during Lyon’s pre-match press briefing on Wednesday, midfielder Nemanja Matic labelled Onana “one of the worst goalkeepers in the history of Manchester United”.
Onana hit back with a social media post pointing out Matic’s five-year stint at United without silverware.
Post-match, United’s coach Amorim refrained from lambasting Onana for his errors. “It can happen,” he said, understanding the nature of mistakes in football.
“If you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes. If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months. The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.”
Amorim remained uncertain if Matic’s comments had rattled Onana, suggesting: “I don’t know (if Matic unsettled Onana), that can happen. The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, talk with (goalkeeping coaches Jorge) Vital and Craig (Mawson), this is the best way to help any player. It’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player in.
“I didn’t see [Onana], to be honest with you. I use these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things. It’s normal. I felt the dressing room was really quiet. We draw away, in Europe, that is always hard, but the team is suffering, we need to change that.”
United secured the signing of Onana from Inter Milan for a cool £47.2million in July 2023, and since then he has made 94 appearances for the club. His commitment to the team is evident, having missed only one game due to his international duty with Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2024.
