da realbet： The Cameroon international is in a different category to David de Gea – his dribbling and passing ability can transform the Red Devils' style of play

da mrbet： Manchester United have the completed the signing Andre Onana after weeks of negotiations, and after agreeing a £48 million ($61m) fee with his former club Inter, Erik ten Hag finally has the goalkeeper he craved. As much as the Dutchman tried to defend David de Gea throughout a season filled with clangers, there was always the sense that he was protesting too much and that he did not genuinely trust in the Spaniard.

De Gea had long been cast out from the Spain team due to his poor footballing abilities and his limitations in an aspect of the game that is getting ever more important, in addition to a marked decline in his shot-stopping ability, has led to him leaving United too.

Even though he won the Golden Glove for the most clean sheets in the Premier League last season, De Gea's skillset was rooted in the past and he was quite clearly holding United back, preventing them from going in the new direction Ten Hag envisioned for them.

Onana, however, can lead United into the future. The Cameroonian was a big part of Ten Hag's most successful side at Ajax and he can help the Red Devils take the next step after an excellent first season under the Dutchman.

GettyIce cool on the biggest stage

The FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City was almost certainly the game that convinced Ten Hag and United that they had to move on from De Gea. The Spaniard routinely gave away possession to Pep Guardiola's side at Wembley and was too slow to get across and save Ilkay Gundogan's winning goal.

But one week later while watching the Champions League final between City and Inter, United saw the future right in front of them. In Istanbul, Onana gave a masterclass in controlling and distributing the ball while under pressure.

Ten Hag already knew all about Onana after working with him for five years at Ajax. But now United could see that if they wanted to build on the progress that they had made under the Dutchman, then they needed to go all out and sign the Cameroonian.

Onana may have ended the night on the losing side, but he was one of the standout players in the Champions League final and was a key factor in Inter making such a contest of a match that many observers predicted would be a one-sided affair.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesEndorsed by Guardiola

Guardiola had spoken about Onana's quality on a number of occasions before the final. In the pre-match press conference, he was asked who Inter's most dangerous player was, and rather than point to a forward like Lautaro Martinez, Edin Dzeko or Romelu Lukaku, he offered a concise analysis of his side's opponents.

And he singled out Onana, who he described as "an exceptional goalkeeper to take the position to build-up. Really, really good."

In an interview with , he again praised Onana for helping Inter play out from the back, contrasting the Serie A side's style of play with United: "The goalkeeper, Onana, makes it really difficult to deploy a high press against. You cannot press the goalkeeper properly. They are masters at keeping the ball, right up to the attackers – the likes of Lautaro, Dzeko and Lukaku.

"If you look at United, for example, it is long ball. With [Marcus] Rashford and another one (forward) to run onto. But Inter are different, they keep the ball."

Getty Passing ability of a midfielder

Onana lived up to Guardiola's billing. In the opening minute of the final, he could be seen dribbling outside of his area, in front of his centre-backs. A few minutes later, when Bernardo Silva ran to press him in his area, he nonchalantly chipped the ball to Federico Dimarco.

Towards the end of the first half, Onana had five City players in front of him and only one real option to hit, but he slipped the ball straight into the path of Marcelo Brozovic, making the pass with the ease of a top-class holding midfielder.

Late in the game, when Inter were desperately chasing an equaliser, many goalkeepers would have resorted to quickly punting the ball forward. But Onana remained calm and courageous, venturing way out of his area with the ball at his feet – closer to the halfway line than his area – and taking on Erling Haaland before finding Lukaku and starting a dangerous Inter attack.

Short passing under pressure is far from Onana's only attribute, and in one moment in the second half he took out seven City players with a curling pass to start a counter-attack. Over the course of the 90 minutes, Onana put opposite number Ederson, once regarded as one of the best ball-playing goalkeepers in the world, in the shade with his passing and dribbling.

The Brazilian came to City's rescue with some fine saves, including tipping away Robin Gosens' shot in the final seconds of added-time. But Onana also performed well with his hands, foiling Haaland from City's best chance of the first half. There was very little he could do about Rodri's winning strike, too.

Getty Key to Ten Hag's golden era at Ajax

While European superpowers such as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid were crushed by City, Inter got mighty close to toppling Guardiola's side, and a large part of that was the calmness and control Onana gave them in possession. But that is far from the only reason why United should be trying to sign the goalkeeper.

Onana was Ten Hag's No.1 for the majority of his time at Ajax, and duringtheir time together, they won won three Eredivisie titles and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, outclassing Real Madrid and knocking out Juventus before being eliminated in agonising fashion by Tottenham.

Onana, who first came to Europe to join Barcelona and then moved to Jong Ajax, the Dutch giants' youth side, was a key factor in Ajax's success under Ten Hag. He would frequently start attacks by finding playmaker Frenkie de Jong, and was on hand to offer his defenders a way out of trouble whenever they came under pressure.

Onana had to miss nine months of football between 2021 and 2022 while he served a doping ban for accidentally ingesting the banned diuretic Furosemide, mistakenly thinking it was a paracetamol. But once he was free to play again Ten Hag slowly reintroduced him to the team and defended him from criticism when he first returned, calling him a "masterful goalkeeper".