André Onana has expressed his gratitude towards Manchester United fans for their early-season support as he settles into life at Old Trafford.
The Cameroon international, who made a £47 million ($59.4 million) move from Inter Milan to United last summer, played a pivotal role in Inter Milan’s journey to the 2023 Champions League final.
During the 2022–23 edition of the tournament, he led the charts for clean sheets, boasting eight to his credit.
However, Onana encountered significant challenges during his transition to his new club.
Notably, he faced scrutiny for errors in Champions League encounters against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray, resulting in a total of 15 goals conceded in six games as United finished at the bottom of their group.
The 28-year-old has openly admitted that it took him six months to settle in and “just to feel good” at United.
However, his recent resurgence in performance has emerged as a noteworthy positive amidst a difficult season for the club.
In an exclusive interview with ESPN, Onana expressed his profound appreciation for the steadfast support he received from United fans during his initial struggles.
“I received a lot of positive messages when I arrived here and when I was facing difficulty here, [the] message from the fans, from Manchester United fans [across] the whole world there was like, ‘André take your time. We know who you are and everything will be all right,’” he said.
“But it was strange because normally a fan, a normal fan is just looking for the result. But I received message[s]… ‘André, don’t worry, we are with you. Keep going.’
“They trust me and I was like, ‘wow, I never had this before.’ Most of the time [wherever] you go, when you don’t deliver in the beginning they’re straight. It is difficult. But here they were very nice with me and I think it’s time maybe now to start to pay back now because they were very nice with me.”
Onana also spoke of how he harnessed patience and positivity from within to get through that period.
“Now we are all human beings; sometimes you are right, sometimes you’re wrong. So you just have to know how to deal with these kinds of things. But I always say you never lose in life, you win or you learn. So when you don’t win, you learn. So you just have to make sure if things are not going how you want, [be] patient, keep working and it will,” he said.
“I [don’t know] if it’s today; maybe I hope we can turn everything around today, but if it’s not today, it’ll be tomorrow. If it’s not tomorrow, be patient. It’ll be after tomorrow. So you have to be patient, but they tell me that you have to be resilient, and then you never have to give up. Because if you give up, you better don’t step on the pitch.
“We have been in this game for a long already, so we all know what we did to reach this level. I know what I did to reach Manchester United. So I just have to continue working hard and things will be all right for all of us.”