Ruben Amorim was reportedly left unimpressed as Andre Onana picked up an injury this summer, just days after a video surfaced showing the goalkeeper taking part in a local match in Cameroon.
In the next few hours, Manchester United is anticipated to formally announce Onana’s exit. The 29-year-old is expected to sign a season-long loan deal with Trabzonspor.
The Turkish transfer market is open until Friday, giving Trabzonspor the chance to sign Onana, even though the Premier League’s transfer deadline was at 7 p.m. on Monday.
After falling far short of expectations at United after a £47 million deal from Inter Milan in 2023, Onana will undoubtedly be eager to repair his shattered reputation in Turkey.
At first, the Red Devils were considering holding onto Onana, but Old Trafford officials were persuaded to let him go after Senne Lammens showed up on the deadline.
Surprisingly, Onana will receive numerous bonuses when he joins the Super Lig team, nearly doubling his pay.
As film surfaced showing the Cameroon international having a kickabout on a makeshift pitch in his own country just days prior, Mail Online claims that Amorim was “unhappy” when Onana suffered a hamstring rupture during preseason.
Videos of the game, which showed Onana flying into and being caught up in fights on a muddy, uneven field, went viral on social media and elicited conflicting responses from United supporters.
Altay Bayindir has been able to hold onto the gloves ever since Onana’s hamstring injury prevented him from playing in United’s season opener against Arsenal.
Amorim was reportedly “wary” that Onana’s circumstances might become a “distraction” for new recruit Lammens, and the decision to let the “keeper go was taken in consultation with director of football Jason Wilcox.
Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was also in agreement with Amorim and Wilcox having made his feelings abundantly clear on Onana during an explosive interview with the BBC in March.
‘If you look at the players we are buying this summer, that we didn’t buy, we’re buying Antony, we’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying Onana, we’re buying [Rasmus] Hojlund, we’re buying [Jadon] Sancho,’ Ratcliffe said at the time.
‘These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we’ve inherited those things and have to sort that out.
‘For Sancho, who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we’re paying £17m to buy him in the summer.’
Casemiro will be the only surviving player of those mentioned by Ratcliffe once Onana departs, with the club going through a period of major upheaval on the back of their worst-ever season in the Premier League.
Speaking on his YouTube channel earlier this week, Rio Ferdinand said he was ‘pleased’ the likes of Onana, Antony and Sancho had been shown the door.
‘I think [Omar [Berrada], who is running the football operations at the club, I think he’s made the point that they’re not going to have players sitting around that are not worthy of being at the football club anymore,’ the legendary ex-United and England centre-back said.
‘They’re not going to have players that either aren’t good enough, haven’t performed well enough or are not the right people to be at the football club.
‘He’s not going to have them around like bad smells. I think, for far too long, we’ve had at that at the football club.
‘We’ve been forced to keep players because of bad financial situations that the club have put us in with players and we’ve had to keep them here, sit with them and had to suffer some of these players.’
Ferdinand added: ‘I think this is a step in the right direction,’ former United and England centre-back Ferdinand added.
‘As happy as I am with the players that are coming in and providing a difference in terms of speed, dynamism, pace and goal threat, I’m as pleased, if not more, with the way they’ve got players out that the club deemed weren’t right to be there.
‘That side of it has been as important, if not more, than the incoming players because I think it sends out a fantastic message and a strong message to the players that are there: you ain’t hanging about here if you ain’t what we want.
‘That’s what it should be like at every club. If you’re not right for the football club, you’ve got to get out.
‘That’s why I’m so strong on it when a player wants to go, he should be able to force and go… I think it should work both ways.’
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