Former striker of Manchester United Michael Owen has insisted that the Red Devils do not need a new keeper, despite the mistake by Andre Onana penetrated in their embarrassing Carabao Cup second round defeat against Grimsby Town.
The League Two Club drew off one of the shocks of this century by switching off the side of Ruben Amorim on penalties sensational after United had fought his way back from two goals to force the shootout.
It was the first time that United ever had eliminated from a domestic cup variety on a fourth side. The optimism that filled the air in Old Trafford after a promising summer transfer window has quickly decreased.
Amorim has made several changes to his starting line-up in Blundell Park on Wednesday evening, but he still started a team that cost a gigantic £ 400 million to build. Error -sensitive Onana, who signed for the club in 2023 for £ 43 million from Inter Milan, was one of the many big names to start in Lincolnshire.
After losing his number 1 shirt to Altay Bayindir in the Premier League, the Cameroonian started a game for the first time this season. However, he had one night to forget.
Onana was comfortably beaten in his nearby pole for Grimsby's opener before he fluttered to a cross in the second. Since then he has been subject to criticism from both fans and the media, but Owen still believes that there is a place for him in the club.
“There have been many reports that they link to one or two keepers,” Owen told Askgamblers. 'So, who knows if that is still a position they are looking at? Many people are against Onana.
'I know he makes mistakes, but I am not as much against him as many people. Don't get me wrong, he is not Peter Schmeichel, but it would not be the position I would like to strengthen the most. '
After what a disastrous Premier League campaign from 2024-25 was – the worst in the history of the club – Ineos Amorim supported the transfer market while building a side that fits his system.
More than £ 200 million has been spent on new attackers with Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, both of whom missed Spot-Kicks in the Shootout defeat, making the switch to Old Trafford. Striker Benjamin Sesko has also arrived for large transfer costs.
The same old problems, however, seem to have arisen in the early parts of the new campaign, and many believe that Ineos must dig deeper into their pockets to sign a new keeper and a midfielder.
But not owen. The retired attacker, who spent three years at Old Trafford, believes that United has made the right movements in the market.
He continued: 'I think they have done the right thing to prioritize getting a number of attacking players. They struggled to score goals and were useless in the future, so they got a number of attacking players.
'That would also have been the priority for me, and so I am happy to see that they did that.
'Now, if they want to win the competition, you might say, do they need a keeper? Do they need other positions? And yes, you could say, yes, but I don't look at it and think “oh wow. That must change that position immediately”.
“It could change, and maybe it should change at some point, but in terms of priority, I think they did the right thing, so said.”