Former Nigerian international Emmanuel Egbo has thrown his weight behind underperforming Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana following a series of inconsistent performances since his summer move from Inter Milan to Manchester United.
Egbo, a 50-year-old former Julius Berger goalkeeper made 12 appearances for the national team and was a member of the Nigeria squad at the 2000 and 2002 African Cup of Nations.
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Man United completed a £47.2m signing of Onana from Inter Milan on a five-year deal but the former Ajax shoot-stopper has failed to impress at Old Trafford.
Onana played under United manager Erik ten Hag during a seven-and-a-half-year spell with Ajax, winning three league titles, and served a nine-month ban in 2021 for a doping violation.
The former Nigeria international goalkeeper in an exclusive chat with Tribal Football said Onana should not only take the blame for Man United’s poor run.
The summer arrival from Inter Milan has battled to settle between the posts for United and has been at fault for several goals conceded in his first months at Old Trafford.
The 27-year-old has conceded 30 goals in 18 appearances across all competitions for the Red Devils, coupled with United’s poor form has raised concerns about his form and fans blaming Erik Ten Hag for splashing money on him.
United are currently sixth on the premier league table with 21 points from 12 matches and have conceded 16 goals with minus three goals deficient.
Despite the stats, Egbo, the newly appointed head coach of FC Prishtina in the Kosovo football league says the Cameroonian is unfairly criticised.
“Yes, I have watched many of Onana’s games at United,” Egbo told Tribalfootball.
“I think the problem is not related to Onana because also David De Gea had a lot of problems there.
“In my opinion, United has a lot of problems in different sectors (of the team) and for me, it’s not that the problems of United are related only to Onana.”
However, Ego also admits the pace of the Premier League, compared to Serie A and the Eredivisie, where Onana was previously with Ajax, does require some time for adjustment.
“Andre came from a different team and league and he needs his time to adapt because you cannot compare the English League with the Italian league, they are very different.
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“The English league is a very fast league where you don’t have time to think about how you will play the ball, etc in comparison to the Italian league where you have time to think about what you are going to do.
“My advice to him would be to be faster, to have faster reactions and to think faster about his reactions in goal. He needs to work more related to the psychological part of the goalkeepers and regarding his decision making.”
