In eight months, Onana moves from despair to dreams

“We are in a difficult tournament and the team is always above an individual.” Rigobert Song’s baritone sliced through the cold air in the temperature-controlled press room inside Al Janoub Stadium. Cameroon had rallied from 1-3 down to take a point off Serbia in a thrilling 3-3 draw and the dreadlocked coach was determined to put a lid on the Andre Onana situation. “Andre wanted to step out and we accepted that.”

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There was more on his No. 1 goalkeeper who had left the World Cup after a row with his coach over tactics. “There are times when strong action needs to be taken,” said Song.

Before the year was out, Onana announced his international retirement. He was 26 then. In a career that had seen him serve a drugs ban and survive a car crash, this seemed another low, another case of talent spurning opportunity. But less than six months later, Onana, now 27, was playing in the Champions League final.

And now he is with Manchester United, having signed a five-year deal worth €55m including add-ons. “Resilience, fortitude and courage. These values have helped me to get this far. The road hasn’t been easy. It is clear to me that there is no better place to keep dreaming than in the Theatre of Dreams,” he tweeted on Saturday.

The reason why Onana is at Manchester United is also why he left Cameroon’s World Cup base in Doha: ability with his feet. Song felt Onana was taking too many risks. Instead of passing the ball wide, he tries to go through the middle, he is heard saying in a grainy video that emerged during the World Cup. Onana refusing to accept what the Cameroon coach wanted is another proof of the conflict of ideas club and international football can be. And his chutzpah.

Of the kind he showed in Houston on Thursday. Manchester United lost the friendly 0-2 to Real Madrid but in his canary yellow shirt, Onana was chesting the ball, heading near the centre-circle, passing to his central defenders, receiving a return pass from Luke Shaw and finding a teammate under pressure, offering himself as a passing option at throw-ins and moving near the centre-circle during corner-kicks. Onana had 45 touches of which 22 were outside the box, as per Opta.

His is a high-risk, high reward kind of game, one that got him to be called ‘playmaker in goal’ at Inter MIlan. In Houston, it did lead to being lobbed by Jude Bellingham for the first goal and Joselu scoring, off a scissors-kick, at the near post. Houston, we have a problem? Not if you were Erik ten Hag. “He (Onana) was there in the moment the team needed him,” said the Manchester United manager on Onana’s debut.

In his analysis of the Champions League final, Roberto Martinez said Onana was less of a sweeper-keeper (here’s looking at you Manuel Neuer keeping Germany alive in the 2014 World Cup against Algeria on a cold night in Porto Alegre) than a holding midfielder. “When you have a goalkeeper like Onana who can read perfectly where everyone is to pass to, it is very difficult,” said Pep Guardiola after the final.

Goalkeeping changed in the Premier League when Guardiola preferred Claudio Bravo over then England’s No. 1 Joe Hart. Distribution was not Hart’s strongest suit and for Guardiola that was a must-have in a goalkeeper’s repertoire.

In 2017, Ederson came to City, who regularly play it to their keeper from kick-off and who had a Premier League assist last season. In an interview to FourFourTwo (July 2023), Ederson spoke about the possession exercises he did on joining City. It helped decision-making and quick thinking, he said. “We worked in a small space with eight-player teams with no goalkeepers, and had to press as soon as we lost possession. I was just another outfield player that had to be quick on the ball.”

At Liverpool, Alisson Becker, who joined in 2018, thinks similarly. He even has a Premier League goal from open play.

The advantage of having a goalkeeper comfortable with his feet increases passing options and helps the team push further up the park. At Inter, Onana being outside his 18-yard box meant the central midfielders and wingbacks could move up. It can also get the other team to move up and that may open spaces on the pitch. Like Ederson, Onana’s ability to accurately play long passes means one or two lines of resistance can get taken out. Having lifted the technical level with some signings last term, an important next step for Ten Hag was a goalkeeper who is calm against the high press and in control in tight areas. Ergo, Onana who played 145 games in four-and-a-half years with Ajax under him.

But this has its risks. The image of Roger Milla leaving Jose Higuita trailing in his wake is one of the takeaways from the 1990 World Cup. Ederson fluffed his lines last term and Tottenham Hotspur scored. Another goalkeeper, David de Gea possibly, would not have been lobbed that way on Thursday. The Athletic has pointed out that as per last season’s Serie A xGOT, Onana should have let in 19.5 goals. He conceded 24 in 24 games.

xGOT is expected goals on target or the number of goals a keeper can concede if facing the same volume and type of shots. So did De Gea by that metric (goals conceded 43, xGOT 41.5 as per The Athletic). Howlers in the FA Cup final and against Sevilla in the Europa League didn’t help and neither did his discomfiture with using his feet. And yet after 12 seasons and after winning the 2022-23 Premier League’s Golden Glove with 17 clean sheets, De Gea should have had a better send-off than the club reportedly reneging on their agreement and asking him to take a further pay cut. “You deserved to say goodbye at the stadium with all the fans cheering you,” said Bruno Fernandes on Instagram.