EXCLUSIVE
I watched Man United and I’m sure they would still be in the Champions League if one player was still there
With an English record 15 goals conceded in the Champions League group stage, big questions are being asked over Manchester United’s defence.
The Premier League side crashed out of Europe, finishing fourth in their group with one win and four defeats, the final of which came against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
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Erik ten Hag’s side were highly fancied to qualify from Group A along with Bayern, but instead finished behind them, Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
United scored the joint fifth-most goals in the competition, but conversely conceded joint most, and talkSPORT’s club correspondent Mark Goldbridge thinks there’s one obvious reason.
“I will say this, David de Gea in goal across that Champions League campaign and we’d still be in Europe,” he said. “You can’t replace a goalkeeper like David de Gea at Manchester United.
“I’ve seen it happen before with Peter Schmeichel and [Fabian] Barthez, [Mark] Bosnich, they were swallowed up, and [Andre] Onana across this Champions League campaign has cost us so many goals.”
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Onana, who previously played for Ten Hag at Ajax, was signed for £47.2million in the summer from Inter Milan.
The Cameroon no.1 starred in Inter’s run to the Champions League final last season, but this time around things have been very different with an error-strewn campaign.
Onana’s mistakes have undoubtedly cost United a handful of crucial points, but Goldbridge doesn’t blame the shot-stopper, instead taking aim at the club for not seeing foreseeing this situation.
He continued: “Why was Erik ten Hag allowed to [sign Onana?].
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“Why is there not somebody at that football club, whether it's a director of football or somebody who knows that football club who says ‘hold on a minute, you want to get rid of De Gea for free and spend £50m on Onana?!’
“There's no differential [between them] and that decision has cost United Europe. I feel sorry for Onana and I think he’s a good goalkeeper but he’s been swallowed up by the enormity of that job.
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“Anyone who’s been a United fan for any period of time will tell you that is not unusual. We had [Martin] Dubravka on loan last January and he couldn’t kick a ball, we’ve seen this year after year.
“There’s something about that position, it doesn’t matter how good you are, it can swallow you up.”
The comments echo those of former United captain Roy Keane, who was not De Gea's biggest fan towards the end of his career anyway.
"The biggest disappointment has to be Andre Onana," he told the . "I think Manchester United were right to get rid of David de Gea, but for the club to have brought someone else in and for him to be struggling."
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