Manchester United have signed goalkeeper, Andre Onana from Inter Milan for an undisclosed transfer fee.
Onana will be United’s new first-choice goalkeeper following the departure of David de Gea earlier this month, after the Spaniard had spent 12 years at the club.
Onana’s arrival also is set to pave the way for Dean Henderson and Tom Heaton to move to Nottingham Forest and Luton respectively, with Utd thought to have held off on greenlighting their exits until Onana was confirmed as an Utd player in fear of having no senior goalkeepers if they left and Utd failed to secure a new senior goalkeeper.
It is believed that Utd have paid a reported fee believed to be around £44.3m plus £3.5m in add-ons taking the total transfer fee to £47.8m, with Onana signing a five-year contract until June 2028, with option for a further 12 months.
Speaking about his decision to join Man Utd, Onana commented: “To join Manchester United is an incredible honour and I have worked hard all my life to get to this moment, overcoming many obstacles along the way.
“Walking out at Old Trafford to defend our goal and contribute to the team will be another amazing experience. This is the start of a new journey for me, with new teammates, and new ambitions to fight for.
“Manchester United has a long history of incredible goalkeepers, and I will now give everything to create my own legacy in the coming years. I am excited by the opportunity to work again with Erik ten Hag, and I can’t wait to play my part in the success I know he is determined to deliver at this great football club.”
Utd’s Director of Football, John Murtough added: “Andre was our top choice to become the new goalkeeper for Manchester United, with exactly the right profile of technical attributes and personality. Having achieved success throughout his career, we know that Andre will further add to the winning mentality we are building within our squad.
“He is already one of the world’s best goalkeepers and at the age of 27 we firmly believe that he can develop even further over the coming years.”
Onana’s switch to Man Utd comes after just one season at Inter where he made 41 appearances as he helped them to Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia titles, plus finish runner-up to Manchester City in last season’s UEFA Champions League.
The 34-time capped Cameroon international previously spent seven years at Ajax having joined from Barcelona in January 2015, during which he made 39 appearances for Jong Ajax before he went on to make 214 appearances for the senior team during which he was served a nine-month ban for taking diuretic furosemide illegally.
Across his time at Ajax, Onana was part of their three-time Eredivisie winning team during which Ajax won KNVB Cup twice in 2018-19 and 20-21 seasons, and Johan Cruyff Shield in 2019 of which they since lost the last two editions of that competition to PSV Eindhoven.
Whilst Onana is Utd’s first-choice goalkeeper, Nathan Bishop and Matej Kovar are expected to be the two back-up goalkeepers in event of injury to Onana should Henderson and Heaton leave the club as expected this summer.
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