Manchester United castaway, André Onana, has agreed a deal to join Turkish Süper Lig side Trabzonspor, on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season. The move will be made official after the international break.
Onana, who was signed for a hefty fee from Inter Milan after his heroics saw him play a key role in their 2022/23 UEFA Champions League final. He never quite fit in at the English side with his style, with many excusing his shaky performances due to the overall shape of the team, then under Erik ten Hag.
However, he was still unable to make a mark under Ruben Amorim, who replaced ten Hag in the middle of the 2024/25 season. His fiery attitude did not earn him any cookie points either, and he soon became one of the main scapegoats of the team for any poor performances they had.
By the end of the 2024/25 season, it was clear that United would be replacing him. They did so by bringing in Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp in Belgium, but were unable to ship out the Cameroonian shotstopper on a permanent basis. After almost a month of languishing as the club’s third choice, he is now set to play a starring role again in Türkiye with Trabzonspor.
The Süper Lig side will be paying no loan fee to Manchester United to secure Onana’s services, which is a unique deal for all parties. Instead, they will be increasing the former AFC Ajax Amsterdam man’s salary and paying him a significant signing-on fee to play for them in 2025/26. There is also no buy option in the deal, making it even more interesting for all parties, especially for United, who are looking to ship him off.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s first-ever signing as Manchester United’s coach in 1987, Alan Tonge, spoke out after Onana’s transfer was confirmed by the media. Tongue, who did not make a first team appearance for Man United after he signed as a youngster, let his thoughts towards the transfer be known on the social media platform, X. He said: “I’m not sure who scouted and recommended Onana to Man Utd after a showreel of calamity at his previous clubs but I sincerely hope they are gone too!
“Absolutely incredible that we were persuaded to pay 47 million for him. It’s part of a long list of comedy transfer activity sadly.”
Onana will travel from Cameroon’s last international break fixture of the window to Türkiye to complete the move and begin life anew with Trabzonspor.
