ANDRE ONANA has been Manchester United’s Most Valuable Player this season, according to legendary club striker Andy Cole.
Onana, alongside the rest of his Red Devils teammates, has faced heavy criticism for United’s underwhelming season.
The SunAndy Cole believes Andre Onana has been United’s MVP at crucial points this season[/caption]
GettyOnana’s performances have improved amid a shot facing crisis for United[/caption]
The Cameroonian goalkeeper had a tough start to life at Old Trafford after making his £47million move from Inter Milan last summer.
Onana made several high-profile blunders and his huge mistakes cost his side points in the Premier League, and led to them crashing out the Champions League.
But Cole – who scored 121 goals for United – believes the 27-year-old is starting to show his worth and has become a crucial part of Erik ten Hag’s team.
Cole told Betfred: “He’s definitely overworked at the moment and that’s why we’re talking about him.
“He’s producing a hell of a lot of saves and many of them are ones that he shouldn’t even have to produce.
“But because United continue to give the ball away in certain areas so easily, the goalkeeper has been their MVP on a lot of occasions.
“He has unbelievable feet too. Fair play to him because he had a tough start, but now he’s starting to show what a good goalkeeper he is.”
Onana has now faced a whopping 258 shots on goal in 2024 alone.
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Including 28 in each of his last two Premier League games which led to defeat at Chelsea and a 2-2 draw with Liverpool.
Unsurprisingly, Onana has been forced to save the most shots in this season – 120.
This is one ahead of Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and 19 more saved attempts than Sheffield United stopper Wes Foderingham.
Onana admitted that United’s injury issues has not helped his search for stability between the posts.
He told Sky Sports: “Well, it’s quite easy when you’re used to playing with the same back four.
“Unfortunately we have a lot of injuries. Being a goalkeeper is a position with a lot of responsibility. You have to be ready to play with anyone and… I can’t complain.”
United return to domestic action on Saturday when they travel to Bournemouth.
The Cherries were shock 3-0 winners when the two teams met in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford.
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