Manchester, England: According to rumours, Erik ten Hag set up a face-to-face meeting with Andre Onana to entice him to Manchester United after losing faith in David de Gea after the previous season.
Last week, Onana completed hisยฃ47 million transfer from Inter Milan to Old Trafford, but it was Ten Hag who first started negotiations.
After De Gea’s dismal season, which culminated in him failing to stop two long-range Ilkay Gundogan volleys in the FA Cup final as United was defeated 2-1 by fierce rivals Manchester City, he made the choice to pursue Onana, according to The Athletic.
Ten Hag, who had previously collaborated with Onana at Ajax between 2017 and 2022, had expressed interest in Onana earlier in the season.
Onana was initially under the impression that joining United would mean he would be competing with De Gea for a starting spot rather than taking his place.
All of that changed, though, in the final weeks of the previous campaign when De Gea made two costly mistakes in United’s 3-0 Europa League elimination loss to Sevilla and then an easy goal in a two-week span at West Ham.
With each error, doubts began to creep into Ten Hag’s head, and De Gea’s performance in the cup final at Wembley was the last straw.
Even though he had often defended De Gea throughout the year, the Dutchman had noticed improvements in his ability to play out from the back, despite repeated criticism from fans and pundits.
De Gea had said that signing a new contract was merely a formality, but United are convinced that no formal proposition was made and no contract was signed.
Following the FA Cup final, and with Ten Hag’s approval, United put a new draft proposal on the table for De Gea, with less money and a shorter term, making it plain that he could stay as a No. 2 goalkeeper or leave.
Shortly after, De Gea made the decision to leave the team, ending his 12-year stint in Manchester.ย Before De Gea’s departure was officially announced, United had already begun to line up Onana as his replacement.
Ten Hag first spoke with Yalcin Sarina, a senior agent at Wasserman Media Group, regarding a possible transfer for his client Denzel Dumfries.
Ten Hag was extremely intrigued when Sarina mentioned the availability of Onana, a teammate of Dumfries on Inter.
Onana excelled when Inter lost to City by a razor-thin margin in the Champions League final, with his passing out from the back standing out. United expressed interest in him at that time.
However, they were not the only team keeping an eye on Onana, as Chelsea was also interested in the shot-stopper.
