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Manchester United goalkeeper, Andre Onana, has claimed that speaking to Edwin van der Sar has helped him turn his season around at Old Trafford.
The Cameroonian goalkeeper was brought to the club in the summer with a hefty price tag of €55m and he was immediately charged with the major responsibility of replacing the legendary David de Gea.
Things started off poorly as he was shaky in the Premier League and an absolute disaster in the Champions League as his errors threw away countless points that ultimately saw the team embarrassingly finish bottom of their group.
However, his underlying statistics showed signs of promise and after Christmas, he has become one of the team’s most consistent players.
This was highlighted when he was selected in the BBC’s Premier League team of the week for being probably the only United player who could hold their head up high after the shambolic display versus Brentford on Saturday night.
The United keeper has also played every minute of Premier League football this season and has made the third most saves in the league this season.
The African keeper has claimed that speaking to his former boss, Edwin van de Sar, has helped him in his quest to settle at Old Trafford.
The two worked together at Ajax when the Dutchman was chief executive at the Amsterdam giants.
Speaking to the Manchester United club website Onana said, “I had the privilege to have him at Ajax and he advised me a lot”.
“We had a great time there. We achieved a lot of things together. Obviously, I had the honour to train a few times with him when he was coming to the training sessions”.
“It was nice. He had a great career here and he’s done a lot of things for Manchester United and for me. I’m still in contact with him and very happy to talk to him sometimes, when we can. Talking about him is something great because he did a lot for me”.
When pressed on what specific advice the Champions League winning keeper gave him he said, “I spoke to him when I signed here and even, I think, a few months ago. He told me: ‘Andre, what can I tell you already? You are already used to the pressure. Just give yourself time and show the world who you are. I already know who you are’”.
The 28 year old keeper went on to compliment Van de Sar’s role in ensuring Ajax began to trust young goalkeepers as he broke into the Ajax team at a young age with success in the 1990s, and Onana believes that this opened the doors for players like himself.
Many fans forget that Onana was a fresh-faced 21 year old when United took on Ajax in the 2017 Europa League final and like Van de Sar, cemented himself as first choice keeper at the Amsterdam club very early on in his career.
His spectacular rise to form has been one massive plus in a season of few for Manchester United fans and every supporter across the world will be hoping his strong form continues over the next couple of months, especially in the context of two new defensive injuries, sadly including Lisandro Martinez again.
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