Trabzonspor are reportedly keen to secure the permanent signing of Andre Onana from Manchester United, just a month into his loan spell at the Turkish club. Onana was shipped out to Turkey from Old Trafford in September on a season-long loan after being dropped from Ruben Amorim’s starting XI for the first three Premier League matches.
The Cameroon international’s only outing for United this term was in the shock Carabao Cup defeat to League Two outfit Grimsby Town. Following a series of blunders and the arrival of Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp, Onana was given the green light to depart.
So far, the 29 year old has featured in four matches and kept two clean sheets. Now, Trabzonspor are said to be planning to negotiate a permanent deal with United after being impressed with the goalkeeper’s performances.
According to The Sun, Trabzonspor boss Fatih Tekke has been won over by Onana’s leadership skills, his adaptation to life in Turkey, and his goalkeeping prowess. Despite the loan agreement to Papara Park not including any option or obligation to buy, there is a strong suggestion that they are eager to start talks with United about securing Onana’s services permanently when his loan stint ends.
As the shot-stopper’s wages are already being covered by his current employers, personal terms are not expected to pose an issue in negotiations. The potential stumbling block in a possible transfer is United’s position on a fee.
Under Erik ten Hag, the Red Devils splashed out £47million to bring Onana to Old Trafford from Inter Milan, and they will be hoping to recoup a similar fee when offloading the shot-stopper. Yet Trabzonspor’s transfer record stands at just £5.9m, which they paid Spartak Moscow for Majeed Waris back in 2014/15.
Meanwhile, Lammens has enjoyed a promising beginning to his Manchester United career following his deadline day arrival. After Altay Bayindir had featured in the opening six league fixtures, Lammens was handed his debut in the 2-0 victory against Sunderland at the weekend.
The Belgian delivered an assured first outing, pulling off three saves and commanding his penalty area with authority. At one stage, the Stretford End could be heard chanting “are you [Peter] Schmeichel in disguise?”
Schmeichel has since come out and discussed Lammens’ debut, taking aim at Onana in the process. “You think about the goalkeepers that we’ve had over these last couple of years and how many goals we’ve conceded from errors—nine errors already this season—it’s too much,” he told Monday Night Club.
“I go back to when I played, my instruction was and it was the same with Edwin [van der Sar] and David de Gea, we had to save the team 10 points a season, not give them away and that’s what we’ve got used to in the last couple of years, goalkeepers giving goals away and therefore losing points. First of all, it’s nice to see a clean sheet, then a really good and solid goalkeeping performance.
“It’s what you see, you see this young lad, he didn’t really have much to do for a long, long time, he literally only had the ball at his feet and he did quite well. You’d expect that from any young goalkeeper these days – as that’s how they’re brought up – so there was some resemblance to Edwin, a couple of long balls, he had that first save down to his left, which you expect him to save, but once he’s done that, he’s a goalkeeper now, he’s saving balls.”