Andre Onana is on the verge of returning to Trabzonspor on loan, a move that underscores Manchester United’s ongoing upheaval — just hours after chief executive Omar Berrada blamed Ruben Amorim’s “rigidity” for the club’s worst ever Premier League campaign.
The goalkeeper, a £47.2m signing from Inter Milan in 2023, is “90%” certain to rejoin the Turkish side, sources told the BBC. There is no option to buy in the agreement, which would see Onana spend a second season away from Old Trafford after helping Trabzonspor lift the Turkish Cup last term — their first since 2020.
“Onana's loan return to Trabzonspor nears 90% completion as Berrada blames Amorim's rigidity for United's worst PL season.”
Onana made 29 appearances during that loan, which was triggered after United’s shock EFL Cup defeat at League Two Grimsby last August — the only match he played for the club all season. Now 30, he accepted he had no chance of displacing Senne Lammens as head coach Michael Carrick’s first choice. With Lammens away at the World Cup, Altay Bayindir’s future uncertain and Radek Vitek hoping for a move, Carrick may rely on veteran Tom Heaton and inexperienced goalkeepers for United’s opening friendly against Wrexham in Helsinki on 17 July.
The goalkeeping uncertainty is the latest consequence of a turbulent period that claimed Amorim, sacked in January after a 1-1 draw at Leeds. Berrada, speaking at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in New York before travelling to the World Cup, said: “Not tactics or talent. Rigidity. The coach came in mid-season with no pre-season to prepare, and under constant scrutiny, he held onto his ideas too tightly at exactly the point when adapting mattered most.”
Amorim lasted 14 months after United paid Sporting Lisbon £10m in compensation to hire him mid-season following Erik ten Hag’s sacking in October 2024. He was backed with more than £200m in attacking talent but refused to abandon his 3-4-3 system, insisting he would rather be axed than change. The result: a 15th-place Premier League finish, a Europa League final defeat, and a December that saw five losses in six games — three at Old Trafford. Amorim himself called it “the worst United team in history”.
Berrada personally pushed for Amorim after Ten Hag’s exit, but the Portuguese’s stubbornness proved fatal. As United rebuild under Carrick, the Onana saga offers a quiet coda: a £47.2m asset whose only appearance last season was a penalty shootout defeat at Grimsby.