The general impression was that Inter Milan had drastically deteriorated when they sold Andre Onana to Manchester United and replaced him with a 34-year-old Yann Sommer.
After all, Onana had been probably the best goalkeeper in the Champions League the previous campaign, recording the most shutouts as Inter advanced to the championship game. Onana also developed a reputation as the best goalie in the world when he had the ball at his feet, which is a crucial tool for the contemporary goalkeeper.
While over a decade at Borussia Monchengladbach, Sommer was regarded as only a reliable goalkeeper who had never come close to achieving an elite level. He had been hired by Bayern Munich in January to serve as a last-minute replacement for the injured Manuel Neuer, but Bayern never considered him as a long-term player and agreed to sell him to Inter in July for €6.75 million.
The red flags Manchester United ignored at Inter Milan, according to ANDRE ONANA
Fans of Inter had modest expectations. But for the Swiss, things haven’t exactly gone well thus far.
Sommer has six clean sheets this season in nine games for Inter across all competitions.
He has conceded only four goals and – aside from a minor mistake for Nedim Bajrami’s goal in the game against Sassuolo – he has barely put a foot wrong.
Although not on the same level as Onana in terms of distribution, he has been strong with his feet in this area as well. He has been a soothing presence in goal.
In Europe, Sommer has been particularly impressive. On the opening day of the Champions League, he made a series of significant save for Inter against Real Sociedad as they trailed 1-0. Due to this, Lautaro Martinez was able to save a close draw. He also made a significant stop at 0-0 on matchday two on Tuesday against Benfica before Inter went on to dominate but only win 1-0.
Since Sommer has been flying, Inter doesn’t seem to be missing Onana at all.
They are top of Serie A with six wins from seven matches, having scored the most goals and conceded the least. They are also joint-top of their Champions League group with Real Sociedad after two games.
Onana struggles for Man Utd
Compare that to Onana’s and Man Utd’s current season’s results.
In his ten outings for United, he has given up 18 goals while only managing three clean sheets.
He has also committed a number of expensive mistakes. The most recent occurred during Tuesday’s Champions League loss at home to Galatasaray by a score of 3-2.
In the second half, Onana gave Dries Mertens a direct pass, which resulted in the Belgian being taken down by Casemiro in the penalty area and the Brazilian receiving a red card.
After failing to stop a rather simple Mauro Icardi shot, Onana knelt down to allow the Argentine to chip him, sealing a 3-2 Galatasaray victory.
Before that, in Champions League matchday one, he made a catastrophic error for Bayern Munich’s opener by Leroy Sane.
These poor performances have contributed to Man Utd’s worst start to a season in pushing on 40 years.
They are 10th in the Premier League, bottom and pointless in their Champions League group, and have lost six of their 10 games in all competitions. As a result, there are increasing calls for Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag to be sacked.
While it is still too early to write Onana off, Inter are certainly smiling by the way things are panning out.
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