Former Manchester United defender Wes Brown does not believe Andre Onana will be sold this summer.
The club’s No.1 has come under heavy criticism from fans and pundits alike, but speaking exclusively to Man U News (courtesy of Best Betting Sites), Brown said it is not as simple as offloading someone like Onana to the highest bidder:
“Listen, he’s made some mistakes this season and you don’t want that from a goalkeeper. But at the same time, I feel sometimes the pressure has been immense. Maybe he’s not handled it the best way, but at the same time, he still come back, the manager still puts him in.”
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“Plus, I don’t think he can just sell somebody like that anyway. These players cost a lot of money. Fans need to understand, it’s not like a video game where you press one button and the player is sold. There’s a lot of factors. And I get these questions. I mean, we all do. I have talks with my mates all the time and they’ll say ‘yeah, you should do this’. But it doesn’t work like that. I get what they’re saying, but it actually doesn’t work like that.”
“So, yeah, he will be there next season and you can just hope he steps up and that’s all you can do. Because if he does, then all this talk goes out the window. It’s as simple as that. But you do have to give the lads some support, if they have had some bad games, you need to let them see that they’re still good enough, even after a bad game. Otherwise, it only gets worse.”
Onana can’t be sold on the cheap
The 29-year-old was bought from Inter for £47.2m two years ago and his book value is £26.3m, which is the lowest fee that the Red Devils would need to receive just to break even. Anything below that figure and they will be causing more problems for themselves in terms of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules.
There is hope that a sizeable offer will arrive from a team in Saudi Arabia but, at this stage, Onana does look set to remain at Old Trafford.
Man United have been linked with several goalkeepers
Even if offloading Onana will be difficult, it does appear as if Ruben Amorim’s side are keeping their options open. They are believed to be scouring the market for new keepers.
Espanyol’s Joan Garcia, Porto’s Diogo Costa, Lille’s Lucas Chavalier, AC Milan’s Mike Maignan, Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen, Parma’s Zion Suzuki and Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale have all been linked as potential targets.
Find out who is in Manchester United’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here