FOR SALE: Ruben Amorim NOT impressed by Erik ten Hag’s summer signing, put him up for sale
Marcus Rashford is not the only big-name Manchester United player in danger of being moved out of Old Trafford after a report stated that Ruben Amorim also wants Andre Onana ‘out now’ – and having already identified a Ligue 1 star as his replacement, with the costs of his potential transfer also coming to light.
The Red Devils are still on a high after triumphing 2-1 in Sunday’s Manchester derby, courtesy of Bruno Fernandes’ 88th-minute penalty and Amad Diallo’s exquisitely-taken winner two minutes later.
Quite remarkably, and perhaps somewhat ironically, there were 115 seconds between both goals as Manchester United took the derby spoils and cranked the pressure gauge up a little more on Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
While the win is still being savoured in the red half of Manchester, the game has been somewhat overshadowed by the axing of Rashford from the matchday squad, with the player now fighting for his future at Old Trafford having fallen foul of his new manager’s standards.
However, it seems Onana could soon be the next United star facing the chop amid claims from Spain that state Amorim ‘wants him out now’ and ‘asks for a top replacement for January’ after ‘losing patience’ with the Cameroon international.
Onana’s form has been much-improved for United this season, though the 28-year-old has dropped a couple of untimely blunders lately in matches against Nottingham Forest and Viktoria Plzen.
Now, according to Fichajes, the former Inter Milan goalkeeper – a £43.8m (€51m, $55.2m) signing that Erik ten Hag insisted on – ‘has not managed to convince the Portuguese coach, who is already planning his replacement for the winter transfer market’.
And per the report, Amorim has already settled on his replacement with Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka top of his wishlist having already made a promise to him that he would be an ‘undisputed and instant starter’ were he to move to Old Trafford.
How much the Nice goalkeeper cost as Amorim makes transfer ‘priority’
And so determined is Amorim to land the 25-year-old, it’s claimed that the keeper has been made ‘one of Amorim’s priorities’ for the January transfer window, having urged Man Utd bosses to ‘invest the €20m (£16.5m, $21m) to sign him’ and with the deal for the Poland goalkeeper seen as ‘an affordable option for the Red Devils, who are willing to make the necessary financial effort’.
The report concludes that signing a new goalkeeper is ‘one of the most urgent priorities’ for the new United boss and ‘would be the first step in Ruben Amorim ‘s plans to strengthen the team in the winter transfer market’.
Amorim himself has moved to defend Onana from criticism earlier this week when he stated: “Yeah we have to take it like it is. He had already, in the past, a situation like that. So we have to work on this.
“If you see the play, we are trying to build up a lot with the goalkeeper making the balls with Matta [Matthijs de Ligt] a lot of times.
“This time, we had a disconnect a little bit during the play and, when we try this, we suffered a goal, a difficult goal for us at the start of the second half. But we managed today, not like against Nottingham [Forest]. We managed to help Onana, like he did in the past for us.”
Meanwhile, speculation over Rashford’s future continues to dominate the news and our reporter Ben Jacobs has provided a unique insight into the conundrum United face in offloading the player and having analysed the possible suitors who could move for him.
‘PSG sources have played down the idea that they are actively pursuing a move for Rashford and the French giants’ representatives haven’t made contact with his entourage recently,’ Jacobs wrote, exclusively for TEAMtalk.
‘The Ligue 1 leaders did hold talks on at least two occasions with the Rashford camp, both before and after he signed a new deal at Old Trafford in July 2023. Both times, the French champions felt their name was being used as leverage and there are no plans to advance anything unless Rashford tells PSG he wants to leave.
‘Luis Campos, PSG’s sports advisor, is aware of Rashford’s situation, but if a deal is to be done with PSG, president Nasser Al-Khelaifi would ultimately lead talks as he has a positive relationship with Rashford and his camp.’
Jacobs continued: ‘Meanwhile, Saudi Pro League sides Al-Qadsiah and Al-Ittihad have previously shown interest in Rashford, too, by alerting central dealmakers. However, Saudi officials believe Rashford will not consider a move to Saudi Arabia until 2026 at the earliest as he looks to stay at Manchester United or in Europe to give himself the best chance of England selection at the World Cup.’
Elsewhere, one man who did appear destined to leave, Harry Maguire, appears to be set for a remarkable U-turn after a big change of heart by Amorim, sources have revealed to us.
