Better than Alisson & Ederson: Onana is the world's BEST ball-playing goalkeeper

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 20 Jul 2023 13:14 CDT
• 5 min read

Manchester United have completed the signing of Inter Milan and Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana, with the Red Devils expected paying a reported €55 million for his services.

Their pursuit of Onana dates back several weeks, with club officials locked in discussions with Inter since the end of last season.

David de Gea has officially departed the club, with the Spaniard’s contract at Old Trafford not being renewed after Man Utd withdrew their initial offer before submitting a lower proposal to the former Atletico Madrid ‘keeper.

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He left on a free transfer and Onana will become Man Utd’s new number one.

A key reason for Erik ten Hag’s decision to let De Gea leave was his ability in possession. The former Ajax manager likes his teams to play out from the back, bypassing opponents’ press by playing through the lines.

That wasn’t possible with De Gea in between the sticks, due to his shaky ball-playing skills, but will be a key factor of Man Utd’s play with Onana in goal.

MORE: 'Exceptional' Onana PRAISED ahead of Man Utd transfer

Liverpool and Manchester City were both transformed when Brazilian duo Alisson and Ederson joined them respectively, and Man Utd are set for a similar change with Onana’s arrival.

But, is Onana the best ball-playing goalkeeper in the world? With the help of SciSports data, FootballTransfers seeks to find out.

Using SciSports data, taking a look at some of the best goalkeepers in the world, particularly with the ball at their feet, Onana ranks very highly when taking a number of factors into consideration.

Onana compared to other goalkeepers in world football

If you look at where each keeper ranks on an average for all metrics, Onana comes out on top. The ex-Inter star is very involved with his passing and does this with a high pass success rate. He didn’t register an assist last season, but was very creative with his passing, registering a high number of key passes and completions into the final third.

By contrast, De Gea fares poorly in all metrics compared to all players in the list and comes out at the bottom overall. Onana would thus be a huge upgrade.

Alisson, Mike Maignan and David Raya closely follow Onana when taking into account: passes attempted, pass success rate, final third completions and key passes. Both Maignan and Allison provided an assist last season, as did Manchester City’s Ederson.

New Brentford acquisition Mark Flekken performs very well in most metrics. His ability on the ball suggests there’s no surprise why they were open to selling Raya this window. His pass success rate is low, but that is due to Freiburg’s system, which asked him to play a lot more long passes, which have a lower success rate than short or medium passes.

*All stats are per 90 minutes.

Based on last season’s statistics, Onana is not the goalkeeper with the most final-third completions - Raya has over double his tally - but he attempts a lot of passes, with a high success rate, and his number of key passes can’t be matched across Europe.

His composure is also top notch, as seen in the Champions League final, and he will stick by his own principles of playing out from the back no matter what.

Ultimately, that’s what saw him dropped from the Cameroon starting XI at the World Cup, with the national team manager Rigobert Song wanting Onana to adopt a more ‘traditional’ goalkeeping style - a role the Inter man wasn’t willing to perform.

Man Utd are getting a top quality shot-stopper, but his ability on the ball is even more impressive. Using an average from the metrics above, yes, Onana is the best ball-playing goalkeeper in the world.