Andre Onana will not be travelling with the Manchester United squad to Newcastle United for their Premier League fixture on Sunday.
Well-placed sources say Onana was omitted from the squad that travelled to Newcastle on Saturday but he could be recalled for the Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon on Thursday. However, it is unclear if Onana will start the Old Trafford tie if back-up 'keeper Altay Bayindir, expected to replace him at Newcastle, excels this afternoon.
United head coach Ruben Amorim has told Onana to disconnect and rest after he was culpable for both of Lyon's goals in United's 2-2 draw in France. Onana's wife, Melanie Kamayou, was also robbed outside a restaurant in Alderley Edge last month. Police confirmed that a 25-year-old man from Bradford was arrested in connection with the alleged incident.
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Onana let Thiago Almada's inswinging free-kick go all the way in and he fumbled Almada's 95th-minute shot that was turned in by Rayan Cherki on the rebound. Cherki's goal was the last kick of the game.
The Manchester Evening News revealed on Friday Onana feared that he could be dropped for the Newcastle match after his latest errors.
Bayindir has played seven times for United since he joined the club from Fenerbahce in September 2023 but he is yet to make his Premier League debut.
Onana, 29, billed United as "way better" than Lyon four days before the first leg in midweek. The French club's midfielder, Nemanja Matic, dubbed Onana "one of the worst goalkeepers in the history of Manchester United" at Lyon's pre-match press conference on Wednesday. Onana responded by highlighting Matic's five trophyless years at United in a social media post.
United coach Amorim refused to criticise Onana after the match. "It can happen," Amorim said of Onana's mistakes. "If you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes. If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months. The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
"I don’t know (if Matic unsettled Onana), that can happen. The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, talk with (goalkeeping coaches Jorge) Vital and Craig (Mawson), this is the best way to help any player. It’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player in.
"I didn’t see [Onana], to be honest with you. I use these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things. It’s normal. I felt the dressing room was really quiet. We draw away, in Europe, that is always hard, but the team is suffering, we need to change that."
United signed Onana from Inter Milan for £47.2million in July 2023 and he has played 94 times for the club. He has only missed one game through international duty with Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2024.
