Andre Onana will be ‘very difficult to replace’ though Inter Milan may be able to console themselves with an ‘absurd’ as Premier League giants Manchester United close in on Erik ten Hag’s leading goalkeeper target.
For a club in such dire straights financially, a £42 million profit on a player who arrived at the San Siro for absolutely nothing just 12 months ago is not to be sniffed at.
Andre Onana – a goalkeeper who would make the famously madcap Fabian Barthez look shy and retiring by comparison – could potentially become Manchester United’s first signing of the summer; Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that there is an appetite from all parties to reach an agreement before the week is out.
Inter Milan are under pressure to sell at least one star player in order to ease their FFP concerns. And while Onana will not be easily replaced – few are capable of emulating his cat-like reflexes and pinpoint distribution – the Cameroon international’s sale is still and outstanding piece of business from a financial perspective.
Man United close in on Inter Milan’s Andre Onana
“Onana is perfect for this Inter,” former Inter midfielder Fausto Pizzi tells Tuttomercatoweb.
“He is very good with his long and short passes, and it would be a shame to lose him. I can understand that, at the corporate level, it is an absurd capital gain.
“But it will be very difficult to replace him.”
Both Inter director Piero Ausilio and Onana’s agent have made trips to Manchester in order to thrash out talks with the Red Devils. The Champions League runners-up will not stand in the 27-year-old’s way, with United ready to double his £50,000-a-week wages at Old Trafford (The Standard).
Onana should become the third former player to reunite with reunite with Ten Hag in England’s north west too. The La Masia graduate will follow in the footsteps of Antony and Lisandro Martinez, and should replace David de Gea after Ten Hag opted against green-lighting a new contract for the much-maligned Spaniard.
Onana won three Eredivisie titles at Ajax.
“Football today is different than it was in my generation,” Sebastien Frey, who spent three years at the Nerazzuri between 1998 and 2001, tells Goal.
“(Former president Massimo) Moratti’s Inter could afford to keep a player regardless of the size of an offer that they received. Now, there are other needs to think about.
“But if it just depended on me, I would keep him. It’s difficult to find a great goalkeeper. If they want to win trophies, then they should keep him.
“Unfortunately, I think they’ll let him leave.”
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