Andre Onana at Man Utd: The ‘Inter Curse’ strikes again

Carlo Garganese

• 8 Oct 2023 07:00 CDT
• 5 min read

The Inter Curse strikes again!

This time the recipient is Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana.

The Cameroonian was expected to become a star at Old Trafford after his €51 million - plus €4m in bonuses - summer transfer from Inter Milan.

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The 27-year-old had enjoyed an outstanding Champions League season with the Nerazzurri last term, playing a key role in their run to the final.

He kept more clean sheets than anyone in the tournament, including five in the knockout rounds, as Inter narrowly and unluckily lost 1-0 to Man City in the showpiece in June. He was also heralded as the best goalkeeper in the world with the ball at his feet.

However, Onana has endured a disastrous start to his Man Utd career. He conceded 18 goals in his first 10 games for United, keeping just three clean sheets. He also made a string of costly errors, most notably in the Champions League defeats to Galatasaray and Bayern Munich.

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Onana is not the first player to be sold by Inter in the last few years who has struggled with his new team.

What is the ‘Inter Curse’?

‘The Inter Curse’ is a so-called hex that is said to have affected numerous big-name Inter Milan players who have left the Nerazzurri in recent years.

The curse has resulted in many of these stars performing badly for their new clubs.

The first in the sequence was Mauro Icardi after he joined PSG for €50m in 2020. Icardi had been Inter’s star man and was expected to score for fun in a PSG attack that boasted Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

However, Icardi never showed himself to be anywhere near the level required to be PSG’s number 9 during three difficult seasons there. In his last two campaigns he scored just seven and four league goals, respectively, amidst many off-the-field problems. He was offloaded to Galatasaray in the summer of 2022 where he has since started scoring freely again.

The most high-profile example of the Inter Curse is Romelu Lukaku after his move to Chelsea for €115m in the summer of 2021.

The Belgian forward's second stint at Stamford Bridge was a disaster, compounded by an explosive interview just a few months into his return where he criticised manager Thomas Tuchel's tactics. After scoring just eight goals in the league, Lukaku returned on loan to Inter for €8m. A year later he went on a second loan to Roma for €5m as Chelsea found it impossible to sell him permanently.

The same summer that Inter sold Lukaku, they also offloaded another big star in Achraf Hakimi to PSG for €60m.

Hakimi had established himself as perhaps the most exciting right back in European football, and certainly the best in Serie A. However, at PSG he has fallen short of those standards. While he has not been a disaster, he has not been the devastating flying wing-back that he was at Inter. There have been many reports also that he is not happy at PSG, with Hakimi even returning to San Siro to cheer Inter on.

In the summer of 2022, the curse struck three more players. Andrea Pinamonti was one of Italy’s most promising young strikers after scoring 13 goals for Empoli in 2021-22 on loan from Inter. They sold him for €20m to Sassuolo where had a disastrous first season, scoring only five goals, despite being flanked by two excellent wingers in Domenico Berardo and Armand Lauriente.

That same summer long-serving legends Andrea Ranocchia and Ivan Perisic left on free transfers to Monza and Tottenham, respectively. Within a few weeks Ranocchia was forced to retire through injury, while Perisic had a difficult first season at Spurs before suffering an ACL injury that will rule him out until 2024.

Finally, the summer of 2023 has provided two more possible additions to the Inter Curse list. Onana has made a disastrous start to life and Man Utd, while Milan Skriniar has also struggled so far since his free transfer move to PSG.

The Inter Curse is real!