Onana once looked like another Man Utd flop but is now one of EPL’s best keepers

FROM the appearance of yet another expensive flop to one of the best goalkeepers in the Prem.

It's been a year since Andre Onana, arguably Manchester United's most improved player, has lasted.

In fact, Onana leads the race for the Golden Glove this season with five clean sheets in 12 Prem matches.

This is one more than Liverpool's Alisson, Everton's Jordan Pickford, Arsenal's David Raya and Nottingham Forest's Matz Sels.

Although 28-year-old Onana saw Ipswich's Omari Hutchinson find a way past him to level in Sunday's 1-1 draw, Ruben Amorim would have been staring at defeat in his first game as United boss if his goalkeeper had been there had not been.

The Cameroonian made two brilliant saves to deny Liam Delap.

Once upon a time, all you had to do was get on goal to beat Onana, who had signed a £47.2 million deal.

He arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 2023 with a big reputation having just reached the Champions League final with Inter Milan, losing 1-0 to Manchester City.

But eyebrows were raised in pre-season when he called on former captain Harry Maguire after conceding a goal in a friendly with Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas.

United quickly looked as if they had gambled and lost after letting David de Gea leave when his deal expired.

In Onana's first appearance at Old Trafford in a pre-season match against French club Lens, he was lobbed from 50 yards.

In the opening game of that Prem season he was lucky not to concede a late penalty after taking down Wolves' Sasa Kalajdzic.

The following month, Onana let a weak shot from Bayern Munich's Leroy Sane get under him in a 4-3 Champions League defeat in Germany.

He was recruited for his distribution skills and shot-stopping ability, but a hospital pass for Casemiro led to a red card for the Brazilian in a 3-2 home defeat to Galatasaray.

He conceded two saveable free kicks in the 3-3 return against the Turkish team, after allowing a shot to curl under his body against Brentford.

Onana admitted that he initially found the move to another country, another league and another team a problem.

But United fans would eventually see why Erik ten Hag signed his former Ajax number 1.

By the end of his debut season, he had made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League with 149.

United are now in a lowly twelfth place after the draw at Portman Road, but Onana has the most shutouts in the competition.

He looks more like an athlete than when he arrived and has developed into someone United can rely on.

Onana has also achieved things off the field: yesterday the international players' union Fifpro presented him with the Player Impact Award.

That's to set up the Andre Onana Foundation, which provides free medical care and surgeries to underprivileged children and adults in his native Cameroon and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Doctors have performed more than 1,200 surgeries since 2021.

The foundation also provides schools for orphans.

Onana said: “The foundation means a lot to me. It makes me see things differently.

“You see people who have nothing, but they still look happier than people who have everything.

“They didn't want to be in that position, but fate made it that way and they are making the best of that situation.”