Andre Onana became the first high-profile departure from Man Utd this summer, and it makes perfect sense now why.
Andre Onana’s performances at Man Utd left no way back in for him this summer anyway, and Senne Lammens surpassing expectations sealed his career at Old Trafford.
However, Onana was still insistent on coming back and challenging for the No. 1 spot, a desire United ended quickly by sending him back to Trabzonspor.
He was always going to leave, but it makes perfect sense now why it happened so quickly and ruthlessly.
Andre Onana is re-joining Trabzonspor on loan again for 2026/27 – What are your thoughts?
Andre Onana among top-10 best-paid GK in the world now
For a player who was, at best, going to be a backup to Lammens, keeping Onana became untenable due to one major reason.
That wasn’t his performance, but what those performances would cost the club.
Now that United are back in the Champions League, every player has had his salary marked up by 25%, and it has had a tremendous effect on Onana.
As per Fabrizio Romano, his new salary puts him among the top-10 highest-paid goalkeepers in world football, including bonuses.
It makes sense now why Ineos sent him packing before even the start of the pre-season, and with no club willing to make a permanent offer for him.
They absolutely couldn’t bear to pay him those wages for a single week, let alone months, while waiting to sell him permanently.
As soon as Trabzonspor agreed to cover that humongous salary, it was a no-brainer decision to accept that loan offer, because getting those wages off the books is a huge win in itself.
Man Utd will reassess the situation when another year of his contract will have run down, theoretically making him easier to shift.
But until then, he absolutely won’t be allowed to stay at United, even if he has to be sent on loan at the start of every season, like this one.
Rejecting the opportunity to pay Mateus Fernandes £250k/week, or Elliot Anderson £300k/week, doesn’t sound so wrong after seeing how these wages hold the club back for years if they don’t pan out.
Ineos aren’t repeating the mistakes the Glazers made.
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