The whole situation with Andre Onana has led Man United to be on a hunt to bring in a new long-term goalkeeper as the supporters at Old Trafford start getting frustrated with the former Ajax goalkeeper’s antics at M16, and while there have been aggressive rumours linking the Manchester Reds with Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi in a €50m rated transfer, the news have emerged lately linking the Premier League heavyweights with a move for Real Madrid’s 26-year-old understudy Andriy Lunin.
If we see what happened in the last season and how Onana was the forefront of multiple errors leading to goals, Ruben Amorim will be looking to advocate for some solidity between the woodworks, as United need a consistent pair of hands at the back, especially if they are to compete on multiple fronts in the upcoming seasons. And bringing in someone who has shown his capacity at the most nerve-wracking moments speaks volumes of the place where the Portuguese head coach wants to take this side.
If we speak about Lunin…
Manchester United are eyeing a summer move for Real Madrid star Andriy Lunin.
The Real Madrid ace has impressed whenever presented with an opportunity, and this is where he deserves to possibly be at a place where he can consistently showcase his ability and this comes off pretty well with the opportunity presented at Manchester United, one of the most celebrated clubs in world football.
Lunin is quite reliable when it comes to his shot-stopping abilities, given how he has time and again shown consistency with his shot-stopping at Bernabeu. But he is more than that; the 26-year-old Ukrainian international possesses that distribution competency given how he is calm on the pass and boasts a high pass completion ratio (be it short or long), which suits what Amorim wants to have in a structured buildup.
And then he is also quite comfortable playing in that outside-the-box role without being too reckless (he is a much safer option than Onana).
And he showed how he can handle pressure given how he has made match-winning saves for Madrid in multiple high-octane Champions League games.
But the thing is that with Courtois leading the charts at Madrid, he only has limited playtime (he only had 7 league appearances in the recently concluded season), and he lacks consistent game rhythm. Moreover, while he has been a bench player for most of his time at Real Madrid, which could have ended up impacting his mindset and readiness to play in 60 games per season.
Comparing Onana and Lunin
Should United pursue Lunin for €15m, or prioritise Carnesecchi instead?
When I am thinking about this in tactical terms, Andre Onana is more of a high-variance player who is quite aggressive when it comes to sweeping and has that tendency to take up adventurous options when it comes to his distributions, but then more often than not, he ends up introducing
risk under pressure. Andy then comes his ever-fluctuating shot-stopping form, complemented by those moments of mental lapse which have time and again cost Manchester United.
When it comes to Andriy Lunin, the Ukrainian is quite measured, and I would classify him as more of a reaction-based goalkeeper who is looking to ensure there is positional security over taking pointless risks. He is composed with his distributions and has a sense of assured demeanour when it comes to high-stakes moments (as I mentioned before as well), and this comes down more towards what Ruben Amorim wants his side to have in the backline.
If we are speaking about it within Ruben Amorim’s system, he demands structural discipline and stability when it comes to buildup phases and the fact that Lunin comes in with a low-error and high-composure profile, which can serve as a more tactical fit for putting through a back-to-front system.
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Author Opinion
I think that signing Andriy Lunin will come through quite closely with the profile that Manchester United are looking to bring at the heart of defence under Amorim (someone who is composed yet has that reliability about him). He also has that structured capability which aids in increasing his defensive stability at M16. And then directly comparing him to Onana, as we saw that he is kind of a more measured option and has more big-match composure. I think in terms of pure capacity and experience he will also be a more capable option then the Atalanta keeper that United have been eyeing.