By the age of 11, Andre Onana had already decided – School was not for him and was a keeper.
His journey was difficult. But his spirit has always been strong.
Onana needs all that mental power at Manchester United in the midst of a period of ups and downs.
His steadfastness was tested after his wife Melanie Kamayou was robbed of her £ 62,000 Hermes Birkin -Tas and a Rolex watch outside a Cheshire restaurant.
The robbery is the latest challenge for Onana.
It took the 29-year-old for a while to settle in life in Old Trafford and he became a figure of spot because of various mistakes shortly after he arrived in the summer of 2023.
Despite a difficult season at United, Onana has put together more between the sticks and has a FA Cup medal to his name.
Success at Wembley feels a world away from being born in the small village of Nkol Ngok, 84 miles away from the capital of Cameroon, Yaounde.
As a boy, Andre would skip the school to see how his older brother Christian plays football.
His parents tried to force him to concentrate in the classroom, but his brother, a keeper whose influence would ultimately get rid of his future, says it was impossible to prevent him from coming with him.
He said to Sunsport: “It is so difficult to stop Andre when he sets his mind somewhere.
“When he was five, I remember that he wanted to train with me, then I played for a second division team.
“So I tried to cheat him. I told him to change and when he went inside, I went to training. Can you believe he was walking all the way to the training park?
“I was shocked when I saw him, and I tell you, this is like a 30 -minute walk from where our house is. He was just ruthless for that age.”
If you were born in a country as a Cameroon, opportunities are limited.
You need a combination of pure grit, determination and an unwavering mental capacity to even have a chance. Onana had everything when he became a member of his first football club ASVP.
Located in Yaounde, they would play barefoot and if the nail was scammed on his big toe, he would bind and continue to play his toe.
Onana shone in competitions against clubs from other parts of Cameroon and there were attempts to relocate to the field, but he liked being a goalkeeper, refusing goals instead of trying to make them.
The first sign of the player who has adorned European football came then Fundessport, a club of Cameroon and Barcelona legend Samuel Eto'o, organized a national tournament to choose the best young players.
Christian explains: “Here I started to see the future for him.
“Andre was chosen from Yaounde and others from other parts of the country by Fundessport, who had connections. And of course it was Eto'o's ownership, and he is like a god for us, so there was belief that if you played in his team, you could go to Europe.”
Life has a way to connect the dots. At Fundesssport, Onana only tasted a small part of what was professionalism, they played in kits, he had gloves and they would occasionally travel to Europe to play in tournaments.
It was on one of those invitation events that the La Masia Academy of Barcelona saw him and immediately drew him.
For years, La Masia had signed Camerenian players when they desperately tried to discover the next Eto'o.
But try it the way they did, it just never happened and Onana was the last Fundessport player who was signed by La Masia.
Samuel Aroko, his junior coach at ASVP, said to Sunsport: “I remember that when he arrived in Barcelona, it was like a party for everyone at ASVP.
“We knew he was good, but we just never knew he would come to Spain as soon as he was.
“It is the honor to him what he has made of his career, you can't get there if you give it up easily.
“Historically, Cameroon has always had great keepers, but the way he plays today is the same way as he played then, with his hands and feet and always looking for a difference.”
La Masia came with his own challenges. In his mind he had come to the holy grail. He was finally in Europe, he would earn big money and the weather was cooler than the constant baking heat in Cameroon.
But that would all crash when he discovered that a FIFA ban on youth transfer meant that he could not play for the club for 18 months.
When he returned, he played in a Junior Champions League match for Barcelona against Ajax and it opened a new chapter.
His brother Christian said: “That is where Ajax saw him and said,” For the way we develop players, he is the most important man. “
At Ajax there was a plan. He became the first-choice keeper for the second team, but every now and then he came to the couch for the first team.
Their NO1 Jasper Cillessen moved to Barcelona for £ 11.1 million, but Ajax still felt that Onana was not ready for football at top level.
They signed Tim Krul from Newcastle on loan, but he came up with an injury that would need at least three weeks to cure.
The former United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar worked at Ajax and before he handed on Onana, his debut said: “I believe in you. I know you are young, but don't be afraid. You are talented, you have a chance here, take it.”
As fate would have, the first match of Onana ended in a 2-2 draw, they won his second game 2-1 and he saved a penalty, and his third game won again.
You do not repair what is not broken, so he kept his place and curl had to go somewhere else.
But then another ban increased his head and threatened not only to destroy his career, but also his reputation at a time when he was a growing star in European football.
He was internationally at 20, a Europa League finalist at 21, a Champions League semi-finalist on 23, leader of a brilliant Young Ajax team on the race for the title. But his career looked like collapse at the age of 24.
He had used medication prescribed for his wife while he felt unwell and furosemide, a forbidden substance because the increased urine production causes and can be used to rinse the system of other forbidden substances prior to doping was found in his urine sample.
After his ban, Onana said: “I am just a number. They can't handle it with the case. I think they should that, but there are rules and the rules are the rules.
'The doctors said [furosemide] Is for water retention and does not benefit. They recognized that it was a real mistake, but you are responsible for everything in your body. If I buy a bottle of water that turns out to be infected, this is my responsibility. “
The Court of Arbitration for Sport would find “no significant mistake” and reduce its ban from 12 months to nine.
Christian revealed: “It was perhaps the most difficult I have ever seen to be.
“There was genuine fear in his eyes, and he would be on the phone with family all day, but to be honest, his agents Miguel and Albert -Botines were incredibly supportive.
“They were more than psychologists, and they made sure that Andre felt confident and counted down time until he was back. They worked hard to take him to Inter Milan.”
At Inter he received Samir Handanovic, the experienced goalkeeper and club captain, but instead of competing, Onana took the role of a junior brother. He would go to Handanovic for tips and the Slovenian rose immediately to him.
They shared the games until it became clear that the future was Onana. His presence in goal, his distribution, his football brain and his athletics were in full show against Manchester City in the final of the Champions League.
It was a performance that many consider one of the best goalkeeper displays in the history of competition.
That would put an end to his only season at Inter before United made him the third most expensive keeper in the world after he had agreed a £ 47 million deal.
It has not been easy for Onana since the move to the Premier League, there have been match-winning rescues, but also high-profile cry.
His future at United would be uncertain in the midst of Saudi Aarabia.
But if he stays in Manchester after the summer, there is no doubt that he has the mental power needed to help the club fight the difficult times and to be united on the right side of the table.
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