Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana is the second best shot-stopper in the Premier League this season.
That is according to Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag, who has thrown his support behind the 27-year-old following his disappointing display away at Galatasaray.
Onana didn’t cover himself in glory in United’s 3-3 draw away at Galatasaray on WednesdayGetty
The Cameroon international had another match to forget in the Champions League, with his calamitous gaffe in the second half seeing the Turkish outfit snatch a point.
Onana fumbled in Hakim Ziyech’s tame free-kick – adding to mistakes in the previous fixture against Galatasaray, as well as in the away match at Bayern Munich.
Since joining from Inter Milan in the summer for £47million, the ex-Ajax star has started all 20 matches in all competitions – shipping in 33 goals, with a club-record 14 in the Champions League group stage.
It is the most amount of goals United have conceded after as many games since the 1962/63 campaign.
Still, Ten Hag has no doubts over Onana’s qualities, as he stated that based on stats, the 27-year-old is performing the second-best out of his top-flight rivals this term.
The Dutchman made the bold claim when speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of Saturday’s 8pm kick-off at Newcastle – live on talkSPORT.
He said: “If you analyse it well then you see he is the second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League based on stats, his expected preventing goals is second-best in the Premier League.
“He’s doing well, but he knows that in the Champions League he has made some mistakes but all over in the first five months he has done well.”
Onana is only behind Luton’s Kaminski in terms of goals prevented this seasonGetty
Onana joined United from Inter Milan for £47m in the summer
Ten Hag added of Onana’s confidence: “You have seen how he is reacting on a bad performance like in Munich – at Burnley [1-0 win] he was outstanding.
“He is a strong character, he is a personality and he will deal with it.”
In stats obtained by Opta, Onana has prevented 3.7 expected-goals this season, with only Luton’s Thomas Kaminski denying more [6.3 goals].
That is in addition to being second in terms of saves made [51] and save percentage.
And since Opta records began in 2006, no other United goalkeeper boasts more touches per 90 minutes [43.7] or made more successful passes [25.6] on average a match.
Onana is also joint top in terms of Premier League clean sheets with five, along with Crystal Palace‘s Sam Johnstone.
