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Erik ten Hag clashed with a Manchester United scout over the signing of Andre Onana, but INEOS’s decision over the summer shows they have learned from these mistakes in the club’s recent past, a new report reveals.
An Own Goal(keeper)
At the request of their Dutch manager, Manchester United agreed to pay Inter Milan £47.2 million to sign Andre Onana in the summer of 2023. This made the Cameroon international the third most expensive shot stopper in history, despite an erratic style which defies traditional goalkeeping fundamentals.
It was Onana’s abilities with the ball at his feet – in direct contrast to David De Gea – that led Ten Hag to demand being reunited with the player he had first managed at Ajax. However, it proved to be a disastrous deal, with De Gea, the long-term stalwart in goal at Old Trafford, departing on a free transfer and Onana arriving only to commit even more errors than the Spaniard.
Perhaps the worst part of the signing, aside from the exorbitant costs involved, was the fact that Ten Hag was not even able to implement a style that allowed Onana to showcase his skills in possession.
In the end, United were left with one of football’s most expensive ever mistakes: a true own goal of a goalkeeper whose stream of mistakes, across both Ten Hag and Ruben Amorim’s reigns, cost the club dearly, on and off the pitch.
The fact that a player who cost nearly £50 million was shipped out to a Turkish club just two years later, after Onana joined Trabzonspor on a season-long loan in September, highlights what a disastrous signing he was.
Learning from the past
It was a transfer which may never have happened, however, had the club’s hierarchy listened to the most relevant figures, rather than allowing the manager to dictate recruitment policy.
The Telegraph reveals Ten Hag had a “heated exchange” with goalkeeping scout Tony Coton over signing Onana, with the Dutchman understood to have wanted his opinion on the then-Inter Milan No. 1.
But Coton was bemused by the suggestion as he “knew the club were going to sign Onana regardless of his assessment” – a reflection of the issues which have plagued United under the Glazers’ ownership.
INEOS have faced a mountain of criticism since taking over control of the football operation at Old Trafford. One area in which United’s new rulers deserve praise, however, is their utilisation of data and a drive to re-empower the recruitment specialists.
Last summer, while Amorim was pushing for the club to sign Emiliano Martinez to replace Onana, sporting director Jason Wilcox consulted Coton’s opinion on whom to sign. Coton did “not feel [Martinez] was the right fit for United,” instead preferring Royal Antwerp’s Senne Lammens – a player he had been relentlessly pushing for over the past 18 months.
“If Amorim had got his way last summer, United would have signed Argentina’s World Cup-winning Emiliano Martínez from Aston Villa at considerably greater expense than Senne Lammens, a goalkeeper Coton had been championing for over a year,” The Telegraph reveals.
“The difference this time was that United’s hierarchy, led by director of football Jason Wilcox and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell, carefully weighed up all of Coton’s reports about Martínez and Lammens alongside the wishes of the manager and concluded that, on and off the pitch in both the short and long-term, the 23-year-old Belgian was the better option.”
Had United listened to Coton in 2023, an erratic option like Onana would not have been signed. But United’s goalkeeping expert felt neutered by the hierarchy’s tendency to prioritise the manager’s wishes above all else, and £47 million was wasted in the process.
The fact that INEOS did not repeat this mistake in 2025 is a testament to the new structures in place at Old Trafford, with Lammens proving to be one of the best signings in the Premier League, while Onana did not even make the Cameroon squad for the Africa Cup of Nations this month.
A stark contrast for the two shot stoppers – but one Coton will have found entirely predictable.
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
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