Andre Onana has faced a challenging start to his tenure at Old Trafford, stepping in to replace David de Gea, who moved to Inter Milan during the summer transfer window.
The Cameroonian goalkeeper has conceded 10 goals in his first five Premier League matches, managing just one clean sheet on the opening weekend against Wolves.
In contrast, David de Gea remains without a club since departing from Manchester United earlier in the summer.
There are rumors circulating that he may contemplate retirement if he doesn’t secure a new team soon.
United’s fanbase grew increasingly impatient and frustrated with the Spaniard’s performances last season, as several goalkeeping errors contributed to his eventual departure.
Indeed, only two clubs in the Premier League have conceded more goals than United so far this season, resulting in an average of two goals conceded per game with Andre Onana in goal.
In contrast, David de Gea’s Golden Glove-winning season in 2022/23 featured 17 clean sheets and an average of 1.13 goals conceded per game. However, it’s essential to consider the context, as the entire United team has struggled defensively and performance-wise this season. The squad appeared more cohesive, organized, and solid during De Gea’s final season at the club.
Onana has, admittedly, made some notable goalkeeping errors, including sitting down before Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal against Nottingham Forest, letting Declan Rice’s stoppage-time winner slip through his fingers, and, most recently, allowing Leroy Sane’s tame shot to go underneath him in the Champions League match on Wednesday.
According to data accumulated over the 22/23 season and the start of the 23/24 season, we are able to see how well each goalkeeper has done in each statistic.
It goes without saying that Onana’s sample size is a lot smaller, but each metric has been measured on a per 90 basis to keep things as level as possible.
Surprisingly, De Gea has been more effective with the ball at his feet, though with a lower 68.33% passing accuracy than Onana’s 74.14%,.
De Gea also has a better save percentage at 70%, as Onana has only been able to muster a save percentage of 66.67%.
However, a huge factor in this is that Onana has faced an average of six shots on target per 90, and De Gea only faced 3.8 shots on target per match, owing to United’s stronger defence.
The end of the season will give us more reliable stats to compare, but United’s new first choice keeper still has some way to go to reach prime de Gea’s level of shot-stopping.