Coach Ten Hag has another headache after the Cameroon team won a place in the African Cup of Nations. This means that he will lose Onana’s presence in the near future.
MU may lose Onana and Amrabat in 7 matches
The Cameroon team just qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations last Tuesday. This means that MU will lack the presence of goalkeeper Onana in the upcoming 7 matches.
Onana announced last month that he would return to international duty for the crucial final qualifying match against Burundi. The Cameroonian goalkeeper will compete in the finals in Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 11.
Coach Ten Hag will hold negotiations on Onana’s plans in the coming weeks. If Onana attends the African tournament in January, it would mean Ten Hag only has two alternatives, recent £4.3m signing Turkish international Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton.
Sofyan Amrabat is also likely to participate in the tournament with Morocco. The fact that the 27-year-old midfielder had an injury (back) was known to Erik ten Hag and MU from the moment Amrabat performed a medical examination. However, they still decided to sign him, because they realized that it was a small injury, not really serious.
It is not known when Amrabat will play his debut match for MU, in the context of the team’s situation not being good both on the field and in the surrounding atmosphere.
Two other players on MU’s list, midfielders Amad Diallo and Hannibal Mejbri, will appear in the colors of Ivory Coast and Tunisia.
Meanwhile, MU have named both Antony and Jadon Sancho in their Premier League squad for the season despite recent problems. Brazilian midfielder Antony is absent as he tries to clear his name against accusations from his ex-girlfriend.
Sancho has returned to the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground but angered Ten Hag with a social media post targeting the Dutch coach after the 3-1 loss to Arsenal 10 days ago.
Both Amrabat and Onana were brought in by Erik ten Hag this summer, and identified as important pillars for MU. But it remains to be seen whether the Dutch teacher’s gamble on his former students will pay off at the Theater of Dreams.