Why did Man Utd recruit goalkeeper Onana?
"Onana plays like a holding midfielder. He is in the position of an anchor midfielder, causing us many difficulties", coach Pep Guardiola commented on the performance of the Inter Milan goalkeeper in the Champions League final - where his side won 1–0 thanks to Rodri's only goal.
That is a big compliment from a pioneering leader who uses goalkeepers with good footwork. When he first took office at Barca in the summer of 2009, Guardiola's use of Victor Valdes was considered revolutionary, and its influence is now seen throughout the Premier League. This is also the reason why Man Utd is not interested in extending the contract, even repeatedly asking for a salary reduction and then parting with David De Gea after 12 years, and at the same time determined to bring Onana - the goalkeeper who played under coach Ten Hag. at Ajax three times won the Netherlands and reached the semi-finals of the 2019 Champions League.
"We know the quality of Onana. He likes to play as an additional defender, with the ability to deploy the ball," Gaetan Bong - Onana's teammate on the Cameroon national team - told Sky Sports. "Playing with Onana, I'm also a bit scared. Fans have to prepare mentally to have a goalkeeper who can play well with his feet. That's the style that Man City is playing. This is the level that Man Utd want. achieve, and to do that, they need modern goalkeepers like Onana."
Onana joined Ajax at the age of 18, after leaving Barca's youth team due to some concerns about playing style. But Edwin van der Sar - Man Utd legend and then CEO of Ajax - saw something special in this young goalkeeper.
Onana was banned from football for nine months after taking the wrong drug. But he is back and stronger since leaving the Netherlands. The Champions League final against Man City at Ataturk, Istanbul was the perfect stage for Onana to remind the football world of his talent.
Dutch football expert Marcel van der Kraan said: "Onana can be a sweeper, full-back, midfielder, but keep him in goal because that's where Onana is best. Some fans calling Onana crazy, but there's always logic behind it. It's rare to find a goalkeeper like Onana. No one plays with as much confidence as he does, and Man Utd fans will love Onana."
De Gea is the opposite version of the ability to control the ball - which encourages Man Utd's opponents to press harder. This was clearly shown when Man Utd lost 0-4 at Brentford in August 2022. But with Onana, Ten Hag can thoroughly overcome this weakness and perfect Man Utd's play.
As Guardiola put it, Onana played like an organized midfielder in the Champions League final, with possession being the 27-year-old goalkeeper's strongest point.
The chart of passes below shows Onana often deploying the ball with the three central defenders in front, passing longer to the defensive midfielder when pressed, or giving the ball to two full-backs.
The graphic below shows the result and distance of each goal kick taken by De Gea and Onana in the Premier League and Champions League respectively last season. It shows that Onana often accurately passes to the defensive midfielders, and has a much higher success rate when swinging long to the striker.
Meanwhile, the chart below shows that Onana is more effective when accurately passing to teammates in almost any direction.
Take that all together and the table below highlights Onana's impeccable passing ability, as the Cameroon star outperformed De Gea in almost every passing metric, aside from the Spaniard's often-timed free kicks. kick the ball with longer distance.
In addition to controlling and deploying the ball, Onana's blocking ability is also very impressive. He set a record eight clean sheets in the Champions League last season, including stellar performances in the knockout stages.
Statistics also show that Onana ranks second in save rate (75.56%) and clean sheet rate (62%), just behind Ederson (87.1% and 64%) of Man City.
In the Premier League last season, De Gea won the Golden Glove award with 17 clean sheets. But when comparing last season's league stats, Onana still conceded fewer goals in 90 minutes and had a higher save percentage in Serie A, despite De Gea playing more games, keeping more clean sheets and achieve a better save-to-goal ratio.
When compared to goalkeepers in Europe's top four leagues, both Onana and De Gea are ranked among the best at stopping shots at close range and keeping clean sheets. But unlike De Gea, Onana is also in the top 5% in terms of successful passing and avoiding serious mistakes, while also blocking shots from distance more effectively.
The graphic below shows the positions in goal for every shot De Gea faced in the Premier League last season and shows the goalkeeper's all-round effectiveness. The results showed that De Gea was weakest in making saves at both low and high corners in both corners of goal.
Onana's save-in-goal positions in the graphic below show him excelling at blocking shots from the bottom, but conceding all four of his shots into the top two.
"This will be a sensational change of goalkeeper at Manchester after 12 years of De Gea. Onana's blocking skills seem to be a bit inferior to De Gea's, his ability to develop the ball and his reliability. of the Cameroon player seems to have attracted the attention of Ten Hag and the leadership of Man Utd", Sky Sports commented.
