Man Utd signed Andre Onana by ACCIDENT

Cameron Smith

• 24 Jul 2023 10:16 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United have completed the summer signing of Cameroon international Andre Onana, but Erik ten Hag did not originally plan on pursuing the Inter Milan goalkeeper.

Onana, 27, officially joined the Red Devils on 20 July and is expected to become the club’s first-choice shot-stopper after David de Gea was released upon the expiration of his Old Trafford contract at the start of the month.

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On paper, Onana looks like the perfect Ten Hag goalkeeper, given his ability to play out from the back and their history together at Ajax. But, the Dutch manager was not even considering signing Onana before the Inter goalkeeper’s name was mentioned to him.

In fact, Ten Hag was enquiring about Nerazzurri full-back Denzel Dumfries when the idea of Onana was raised, which sparked Man Utd’s interest in the La Masia graduate.

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Ten Hag wanted Dumfries

According to The Athletic, “Yalcin Sarica, a senior agent at Wasserman Media Group, had originally been talking to Ten Hag about his client Denzel Dumfries. But then, during the phone call, Sarica brought up Onana, a player he had known since 2019 and was in the process of representing. Ten Hag was interested. The fuse was lit.”

Man Utd had been heavily linked with a move for Dumfries for several months, with both Ten Hag and the club said to be interested in the Netherlands international. Fellow Dutchman Jeremie Frimpong was also rumoured to be a target, suggesting the Red Devils were keen on adding an attacking right-back to complement the more defensive Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

However, it looks unlikely that the club will go all-in for a new full-back this summer given Wan-Bissaka’s form and their pursuit of Atalanta forward Rasmus Hojlund and Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat.

Alongside Onana, Mason Mount is the only other addition that Man Utd have made this summer. The England international joined from Chelsea for €64.2 million.