Jamie Redknapp says he has ‘an element of sympathy’ for Andre Onana as Manchester United’s injury issues have made life ‘difficult’ for goalkeeper.
Onana has had a mixed first season at Old Trafford since his £47million move from Inter Milan last summer.
He started off making a number of huge errors which played a big part in United’s early exit from the Champions League, but has slowly but surely grown into the game.
At the time of writing, only Luton’s Thomas Kaminski has made more saves than the 28-year-old, with the Cameroonian keeping eight clean sheets in the top-flight so far – only Arsenal’s David Raya and Everton’s Jordan Pickford have more.
Unfortunately, his improvement has coincided with the Red Devils’ defence getting worse, with only bottom of the table Sheffield United conceding more shots this season than Erik ten Hag’s side.
Speaking on Sky Sports before United’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth on Saturday night, former Liverpool star Redknapp said of the keeper: ‘He got a lot of stick, some almighty stick at the start of the season. Some of it was fully deserved because he obviously wasn’t playing well.
‘But I’ve seen real progress. We all know he can play, we know he can ping passes, but I also want to see my goalkeeper make saves and he’s done that in abundance.
‘[Against Dominik] Szoboszlai last week was one of the best saves I’ve seen in a long, long time. Magnificent. He kept his team in the game and it’s come from a bit of confidence.’
United’s defence has been decimated by injuries this season, especially at centre-back and left-back, with Harry Maguire and youngster Willy Kambwala the only fit players in these positions.
Redknapp believes Onana’s form in the midst of this fitness crisis should be applauded, adding: ‘I have an element of sympathy for him as well.
‘Normally when you’re picking a team and everyone’s fit, [Lisandro] Martinez and [Raphael] Varane would probably be the two centre-backs he would be playing behind.
‘Every weekend they’ve chopped and changed, they’ve never had a settled defence, it’s made it difficult for him. But there are certainly signs that he is a very good goalkeeper and it wasn’t always the case.
‘At the start of the year I wasn’t sure if he was ever going to be the Manchester United keeper long-term but I’ve been very impressed with him of late.’
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