Andre Onana will return in goal for Manchester United on Thursday – with boss Ruben Amorim admitting only time will tell if it was the right call to drop him. Onana was dropped by Amorim for Sunday’s 4-1 defeat at Newcastle, after the United goalkeeper’s two howlers in their 2-2 Europa League quarter-final first-leg draw away to Lyon.
The decision was taken by Amorim to allow Onana to “rest and disconnect” after his calamitous showing in Lyon, with the expectation that he would return for the second leg. The United boss confirmed Onana will return to face Lyon, but conceded he cannot guarantee his decision to take the 29-year-old out of the firing line will be proved right.
Asked if his decision to drop Onana and then recall him served to put more pressure on the error-prone United keeper, Amorim said: “That is the dilemma, this is the big factor about being a coach – everything you do has two ways. If he is going to be really good tomorrow, I am sure of that, but if it is the other way, then people will say it was a bad decision.
“I’m trying to be really simple, not overthinking. I see Andre and he had one weekend of rest. I just think first of all, as a coach and also as a former player, I try to do things that help a player in this situation.
“Sometimes we talk about managing players physically, but we also have to do it mentally – but then they also have to return to competition. This week my thinking was to put Onana back in to play again tomorrow.”
Asked if he felt he needed to sign a new No.1 this summer, to replace Onana, Amorim said: “We need to improve every position on the field – the goalkeeper is the same. But we can work with Andre [to make him better].
“We are going to make that evaluation for any position in the squad. But you can see my record. My record is the worst in the team. I am also underperforming
“Andre already proved he is a top player with Inter, Altay Bayindir the same with Fenerbahce. We have some seasons where we are underperforming.”
Amorim confirmed Joshua Zirkzee is out for the season, after the forward suffered a hamstring injury at Newcastle. “Joshua is out for the season, so he’s not going to play more for the season,” said Amorim. “Let’s prepare him for the next one. It is tough, especially at the moment. But he has to be ready now to recover.”
Asked if United are ready to play in the Champions League next season – the prize for winning the Europa League – Amorim said: “If you look at this moment, we are not ready to be really competitive in the Premier League and to cope with the Champions League.
“But if you play in one club you should fight for this competition. But if you are in the Champions League, you have a different budget to put together a better team for next season. It’s something we will discover next year – hopefully.”
Join our new MAN UTD WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Manchester United content from Mirror Football. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.