Ten Hag, Manchester United made ‘criminal’ transfer decision finally justified by £47.2m signing

Dean Henderson made no attempt to hide his fury at Manchester United before he left, but Andre Onana is finally helping justify a “criminal” transfer call.

“It was frustrating. To sit there and waste 12 months is criminal really, at my age. I was fuming,” said Dean Henderson in August 2022. “I didn’t really want the manager to come in and be able to see me in training because I knew he’d probably want to keep me,” he added, grossly underestimating the sheer extent of said manager’s Eredivisie obsession.

Henderson could have meticulously destroyed the confidence of every contracted Manchester United forward with a series of Carrington clinics over that summer but at no stage would new manager Erik ten Hag have wavered from his goalkeeping masterplan: one final season of David de Gea before a whole lot of Andre Onana.

And as much as Henderson’s relish in keeping a second straight clean sheet against his former employers will have frustrated, the performance and continued improvement of Onana was a considerable consolation.

Manchester United were better than on their last trip to Selhurst Park but that particular bar was buried deep in the Earth’s core. That 4-0 defeat four months ago was the most pronounced of all Ten Hag nadirs, a result and display damaging enough to render Casemiro an unused substitute on this occasion very possibly due to PTSD. Christian Eriksen was a better partner for Kobbie Mainoo in the middle but again, it was hard not to be.

The visitors were genuinely excellent for most of the first half. Matthijs de Ligt had two presentable chances. Lisandro Martinez could have scored. Joshua Zirkzee should have. Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes both hit the crossbar in quick succession. Henderson produced some fine saves; he was the only Palace player able to keep up.

But there was always a sense that Manchester United had to press home that advantage while they had it, that it was just as likely the game would drift away than it was Ten Hag’s players could keep riding the wave. The hosts had barely any of the opening 45 minutes, then suddenly Eberechi Eze shot straight down the middle and at Onana when he had to find a corner from Tyrick Mitchell’s cutback.

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The half-time introduction of Ismaila Sarr as a latent threat on the counter seemed to be enough in itself to concern and occupy Manchester United. While there were still opportunities for Fernandes and Amad it was noticeable how the standard dipped around the hour.

Perhaps Zirkzee’s substitution accounts for some of that. He is certainly a more involved attacking fulcrum than Rasmus Hojlund, who had five touches of almost entirely no consequence in a quarter of an hour on his return from injury.

Manchester United did not have a single shot after the 68th minute, seven minutes after Ten Hag swapped his centre-forwards. That is not wholly damning but there was only one possible winner for almost the final third of the game and they were not playing in white.

Onana rose to the challenge, conjuring a fine double save from Eddie Nketiah’s effort outside the area and Sarr’s follow-up. The reaction time and athleticism was stunning and in this of all weeks, it is easy to draw comparisons with the rise of David Raya: from the scepticism over his signing to the high-profile mistakes, criticism and now impressive response.

Once seen as one of the key issues in Ten Hag’s Manchester United team, Onana has become a player who can be relied upon more than most to deliver.

There was no team rally after the penalty save against Southampton, but Manchester United needed Onana no less against Crystal Palace.

Even with Henderson making a compelling case in a “criminal” transfer decision trial against Ten Hag, Onana put forward another monumental defence of his manager.

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