Edwin van der Sar believes Manchester United are selling a player with ‘tremendous quality’ in Andre Onana.
Old Trafford legend Van der Sar knows Onana well having worked with him in his previous role as chief executive at Ajax.
Onana spent six years on the Dutch club before joining Inter Milan and it was on the Serie A giants that he attracted interest from Manchester United.
Much was expected of Onana following his £47m move to United as he had just helped Inter reach the ultimate of the Champions League, which they lost narrowly to Manchester City.
But Onana proved to be a largely frustrating figure within the Red Devils team, making a string of mistakes before being replaced at the beginning of the season.
Manchester United loaned Onana to Trabzonspor after signing latest No. 1 Senne Lammens and the Turkish club are believed to have an choice to sign him permanently in the summertime.
Even when Trabzonspor reject the possibility to make the move everlasting, Onana will still be moved on at the tip of the season, with reports claiming Manchester United have already decided to sell the Cameroon international.
Van der Sar ‘still thinks’ Onana has ‘tremendous qualities’ but understands why his former club have decided to maneuver him on given a number of the ‘crazy’ mistakes he made in a United shirt.
‘I worked with Andre Onana for 3 or 4 years at Ajax,’ Van der Sar told Sky Bet. ‘He got here in as a third-choice goalkeeper and was very wanting to step up and grow to be the primary alternative.
‘I assumed, and I still think, that he has tremendous qualities – reflections and his feet – but someway, he has the odd mistake in him that makes you think that “That’s crazy, how can he do this.”
‘A team wants stability, to know what your goalkeeper is doing so the back 4 can relate and I believe that’s what happened [the issue] with Andre.
‘Manchester United haven’t had stability for the last six or seven years – the back 4 changing, the centre-halves and midfielders changing, coaches changing – so, it’s difficult for brand spanking new players to come back into an environment where the expectations are high, not just for goalkeepers but in addition for a winger or midfielder.
‘A variety of players who’ve come here within the last eight or nine years haven’t reached the extent that individuals expected them to succeed in.
‘I absolutely thought that he would succeed when he first got here here to United. As I said, I worked with him and saw him at Ajax, he did well in Italy and played in a Champions League final, so I assumed it was a match made in heaven.’
Van der Sar, who won 4 Premier League titles and the Champions League at Manchester United, has been impressed by £18m summer signing Lammens.
‘He’s doing well,’ he said of Lammens, who attracted praise from legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson earlier within the season.
‘It definitely looks like he knows the physicality of the Premier League – I see him coming for balls within the penalty spot and he claims them with confidence, makes saves when needed, not seeking to make saves when not needed.
‘I’m not here day-to-day and I don’t see all the games, but he looks like he has a superb package with him to be here [at Manchester United] for a very long time.’
Manchester United travel to Chelsea on Saturday night seeking to take one step closer to securing Champions League qualification for next season.
Michael Carrick’s men are currently seven points clear of the Blues with just six games remaining within the campaign.
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