Yuvraj Singh
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen believes that there are huge boots to fill for Andre Onana following David De Gea’s exit
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen, while speaking to Sky Sports (h/t Manchester Evening News) following Manchester United’s 2-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund has appreciated new signing Andre Onana but speaks of the huge challenge ahead of him following David De Gea axe.
De Ge was United’s long-standing goalkeeper for the past twelve seasons and won the Premier League Golden Boot last season, which overshadowed in reality the season that he had.
The Spaniard failed to truly get into the principles of Erik Ten Hag football which is based on playing out from the back and the Dutch had to make tweaks to negate the deficiencies in De Gea’s game.
His contract ended this year and while many expected him to stay between the sticks for the upcoming season, Ten Hag showed his ruthlessness again and axed De Gea in favour of Andre Onana, who had also played under Ten Hag at Ajax.
The United manager was aware of the player he was getting in Onana and wanted a goalkeeper who was comfortable playing out from the back and the first few signs in pre-season have been promising.
Eriksen, while admitting the qualities of the new signing, believes there is a huge challenge in front of him to match up to the legacy created by De Gea in his time at the club.
”A different style. We were sad to see David leave, what he’s done for the club and what he was like as a character. But Andre’s going to come in and do what he does best.
He’s going to take his turn and he’s got a lot to follow, David was not a little player at United for many, many years so he has a lot of things to catch up but I am sure he will fit in here very nicely.”
While it was indeed sad to see De Gea leave in the manner that it happened and that he should have recieved a proper farewell by the club, it was the right time for the club to change keepers if they are serious about challenging for the top honours again.
Onana looks like a top player with high level leadership qualities, something which De Gea was criticised for on many occasions and on the face of it, Onana is the complete opposite of what De Gea offered.
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The two games he has played in the pre-season friendlies have given fans a glimpse of what lies ahead and there are no doubts that once he integrates well with the team and likewise, the teammates integrate with his style of play, United would play different football to what was seen last season.
