Yann Sommer makes a mockery of Andre Onana

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 17 Dec 2023 12:32 GMT
• 4 min read

When Inter Milan sold Andre Onana to Man Utd this past summer and replaced him with a 34-year-old Yann Sommer the overwhelming consensus was that Inter had massively downgraded.

After all, Onana had been arguably the best goalkeeper in the Champions League last season, keeping the most clean sheets in the competition as Inter reached the final. Furthermore, Onana earned a reputation as the best goalkeeper in the world with the ball at his feet - a key weapon for the modern goalkeeper.

Sommer, meanwhile, was considered as merely a steady goalkeeper who had never got close to reaching an elite level during almost a decade at Borussia Monchengladbach. He had moved to Bayern Munich as emergency cover for the injured Manuel Neuer in January but Bayern never saw a longer future for him and agreed to sell to Inter in July for €6.75m.

Expectations for Inter fans weren’t very high. But so far things could barely have gone much better for the Swiss.

In 20 games for Inter this season in all competitions, Sommer has kept an incredible 13 clean sheets.

He has conceded only nine goals and - aside from a minor mistake for Nedim Bajrami’s goal in the defeat to Sassuolo - he has barely put a foot wrong.

He has been a calming presence in goal and, while not at the level of Onana in terms of distribution, has been strong in this area with his feet, too.

Sommer has been particularly impressive in Europe. He made a string of crucial saves with Inter trailing 1-0 at Real Sociedad in Champions League matchday one. This allowed Lautaro Martinez to rescue a late draw. And on matchday two against Benfica he made a big save at 0-0 before Inter went on to dominate but only win 1-0. Inter qualified for the last-16 unbeaten.

In Serie A he has also been impressive, and he produced a string of stunning saves in the recent 3-0 victory over champions Napoli.

Inter have been flying with Sommer and do not appear so far to be missing Onana at all.

They are top of Serie A with 12 wins from 15 matches, having scored the most goals and conceded the least.

Onana struggles for Man Utd

Compare that with Onana and Man Utd’s fortunes so far this season.

He has conceded 39 goals in 26 games for United between the Premier League, Champions League and League Cup.

He has also made a string of costly errors, particularly in the Champions League. In the 3-2 home defeat to Galatasaray, Onana passed the ball directly to Dries Mertens through on goal in the second-half, which led to the Belgian being wiped out by Casemiro inside the penalty area and a red card for the Brazilian. He then failed to stop a fairly routine Mauro Icardi shot, with Onana crouching down to let the Argentine chip him to seal a 3-2 Galatasaray win.

In the 3-3 return game in Istanbul, Onana was responsible for two of the goals conceded - the second a disastrous fumble into the net from Hakim Ziyech.

Before that, in Champions League matchday one, he made a catastrophic error for Bayern Munich’s opener by Leroy Sane.

United finished bottom of a weak group containing Copenhagen and Galatasaray, and Onana conceded the most goals, 15, in the history of an English team in the Champions League group stage.

These poor performances have also contributed to Man Utd’s worst start to a season in pushing on 40 years.

They are already out of the League Cup and six points off the top four in the Premier League.

In all competitions, Man Utd have already lost an incredible 12 games.

As a result, there are increasing calls for Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag to be sacked.

While it is still too early to completely write Onana off, Inter are certainly smiling by the way things are panning out. So far, Sommer is proving to be steal.