Onana recall could prove season-defining for United

As he left Manchester United’s Carrington training ground yesterday, Altay Bayindir wound down the window of his car to pose for photos with supporters.

- RICHARD JOLLY

He has attracted more attention of late. The cameras will be trained on the Turkey international again tonight, but he will be found in the dugout. His reaction to any goalkeeping mishaps will be scrutinised.

Ruben Amorim had already confirmed that Andre Onana would return to the United team against Lyon. Whether he would have made that decision but for Bayindir’s error in Sunday’s defeat at Newcastle, only he may know, but the United head coach had to sound confident in the choice be made between goalkeepers who, between them, have been horribly culpable for three goals in a week.

“Sometimes we talk about managing players physically, we have to manage them also mentally but they have to return to competition,” he said, outlining why it is not merely enough to take the rested or dropped out of the firing line; they have to go back into it. “Onana is ready, he had one weekend that I felt it was better for him to not play and a good thing for Altay to play and this week my thinking was to put Onana to play.”

As Amorim admitted, it is a decision that could backfire, one that leaves him potentially open to criticism. “This is the big factor on being a coach: everything you do has two ways,” he said. “If he is going to be really good tomorrow, I am sure of that, but if it is the other way, people will say it is a bad decision.”