Onana and van der Sar had a good bond together during their time at the club and had even trained together occasionally.
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One of the headline signings of the summer transfer window was Andre Onana’s move from Inter Milan to Manchester United. The Cameroonian arrived at Old Trafford with a massive reputation after guiding the Italian side to the Champions League final last season. Onana turned a lot of heads in the title clash with his fantastic distribution from the back. Despite Inter losing the final to Manchester City, Onana’s reputation soared following that performance.
However, Andre Onana was unable to replicate that form from the start after joining Manchester United in the summer. He took his time to settle down and also made a few uncharacteristic errors, inviting plenty of criticism. Lately, the shot-stopper has found a way to negate the mistakes and has become an important part of the team’s setup. With fortunes starting to turn in his favour, Onana went down memory lane to talk about a former United great.
Onana had worked closely with Man United legend Edwin van der Sar during his time at Ajax. The former Dutch keeper is currently recovering from the brain haemorrhage he suffered in the summer. He was the chief executive of Ajax. Onana and van der Sar had a good bond together during their time at the club and had even trained together occasionally. Recalling his time with van der Sar, Onana said in a new episode of TeamViewer Diaries, “Of course I had a good relationship with him.”
He added: “By the way, I spoke with him when I heard the bad news of him, but he is getting well. He had a great impact. I was with him in Ajax back in the days. We had a great, great time. We were training sometimes together and he advised me a lot. He was happy when I joined Manchester United. He advised me a lot during the game, after the game, especially if I was making mistakes! He was coming through all the way to the dressing room or to the training session to speak with me and he helped me to build that personality, you know? I will always be thankful to him.”
Onana then spoke about how the goalkeeper position has changed in the modern game and that he is also comfortable with that role. The Cameroonian further stated that he is not afraid to take risks, as he feels that mistakes are part of life. “To be honest, now football is so different. You know, I think the position has changed in the last 20 years. Now the goalkeeper is like [having] another player more, you know?” he began.
“And when you look at the way most of the teams want to play, now they use the goalkeeper as a plus one. I consider myself as a modern goalkeeper, so I’m not afraid to make mistakes. I’m not afraid to take risks and I would take risks because the way I play is what brought me to Manchester United, one of the best clubs in the world, and I will not drop. I will never drop. I will only go forward. I can make mistakes and mistakes are a part of life.”
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