Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana will travel to Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), immediately after the match with Tottenham in the Premier League. The duel between United and Tottenham will be played on January 14 and Onana will not only be in goal in this match, but will also appear for Cameroon 24 hours later in the first encounter of the African Cup against Guinea.
This is the agreement reached between all parties – Onanas, Manchester United and the Cameroon Football Federation. With this agreement, Onana's union with Cameroon has been postponed, although the teams are obliged to release the players two weeks before the start of the Africa Cup. So the 27-year-old Onana will be able to appear in the FA Cup third round match that United play on Monday with Wigan Athletic, six days before the duel with Tottenham at the "Old Trafford" stadium.
After this match, Onana will immediately fly to Ivory Coast to be available to Cameroon for the first match of the African Cup. The African tournament starts on January 13 and will last until February 11, while 24 representatives of this continent will participate. United signed Onanan from Inter last July with the knowledge that he had withdrawn from the Cameroon national team and would not be going to the Africa Cup of Nations, which was communicated to them by the goalkeeper himself.
However, Onana was persuaded by the Cameroon Football Federation and other factors to return, a decision United fully respect. Even the heads of the Cameroonian federation admit that United did not expect to lose Onanan at a key point of the edition and there were hesitations to release him for the African Cup. Given his role in his decision, the Cameroon FA wanted to work with United to reach a compromise that maximizes Onana's playing time for both teams. If Cameroon fail to progress from their AFCON group - which also contains Senegal and Gambia - they may not miss a United game. Cameroon's final group game is against Gambia on January 23, four days before United's potential FA Cup fourth-round clash if they knock out Wigan.
If Cameroon progress, and depending on how far they go, United's next Premier League game will be a trip to Wolverhampton on February 1. Erik ten Hag's side host West Ham United on February 4 and travel to Aston Villa on February 11 - the same day as the Africa Cup of Nations final. Ten Hag has said that he has full faith in the backup goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, whom he transferred before the start of this season from Fenerbahçe, but who has not yet made any appearances. Also, United's other alternative option is Tom Heaton. Onana was included in Cameroon's 27-man AFCON squad last Thursday, despite ending his international career in 2022 due to a dispute with federation president Samuel Eto'o at that year's World Cup year in Qatar. Onana made his debut in September 2016 with Cameroon and has so far made 37 appearances.
