Ruben Amorim says Andre Onana struggled with pressure at Manchester United before loan to Trabzonspor
Manager attributes goalkeeper's exit to intense scrutiny at Old Trafford and says a change of environment was needed
Ruben Amorim said Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana struggled to cope with the pressure of the job at Old Trafford and that a change of environment prompted the club and player to agree a season-long loan to Trabzonspor.
Onana, who joined United from Inter Milan for £47.2 million two years ago, left on Thursday night and is due to make his debut for the Turkish side against Fenerbahce on Sunday. The Cameroon international has been displaced after a difficult spell at United, which included a hamstring injury in the summer and a loss of his starting place to Altay Bayindir early in the campaign.
"We saw Andre had a very, very good season in Inter," Amorim said. "The quality is there, but we are in the club sometimes, in the moment, things are getting harder and harder. And you can be really experienced. But in this club, the pressure is sometimes so hard on every detail. Sometimes you need a change."
Amorim said United and Onana shared the view that a new environment would help the goalkeeper return to form. "I think we understood that he needed a change. Sometimes it's hard to point why. It's the performance, the moments. The bad luck in some moments was hard on him, and it was hard on us. Our thinking is to have a change in the goalkeepers. I wish the best for Andre. He was really good at working, trying to help the players. Sometimes you can have all the quality in the world, but sometimes you need to change the environment to return to your level. That was a feeling, not just from us, but also from Andre."
Onana's only appearance for United this season came in the Carabao Cup defeat to Grimsby, a penalty-shootout exit that underscored his recent struggles. The club signed Senne Lammens from Antwerp during the transfer window, and Onana's loan move followed the arrival of the new goalkeeper.
Amorim described his approach to addressing United's early-season issues during the international break. "I did everything," he said. "I watched a lot of games. I tried to understand different things. I talked to Jason (Wilcox), I talked to Omar (Berrada). I tried to anticipate scenarios. The market was frozen in this break. I tried to do everything in this kind of break to prepare for the future." United beat Burnley 3-2 before the international break.
The Portuguese manager was also asked about a long-standing Manchester United tradition of including an academy player in matchday squads, a sequence that stretches back to 1937. Amorim said he did not want to be remembered as the person who ended that run and stressed the club's history of developing homegrown talent. "If you see the past of Manchester United, it's built on kids that grew up here and stayed here for a long time. I think that should be our goal in the future, so I will try to maintain that," he said.
Onana's loan gives him the opportunity to play regularly in Turkey and potentially regain form away from the heightened scrutiny at Old Trafford. United, meanwhile, have made a change in the goalkeeping department as they look to stabilise results under Amorim early in the season.
