Andy Cole has given his backing to Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana - at least for now.
The Cameroonian international has endured a difficult start to his United career, making several errors as some fans and former players call for the return of David de Gea.
Manager Erik ten Hag let De Gea leave as his contract expired in the summer, a move many disagreed with given the long time served by the Spaniard.
With United’s second-choice goalkeeper another new signing, Altay Bayındır, Onana looks likely to keep his place for the foreseeable future, and Treble winner Cole thinks he deserves more time to prove himself.
“Every player deserves time and we just have to see what happens in his upcoming performances,” he told Betfred.
However, Cole said that he wanted more reliability from goalkeepers than the enigmatic Onana offers, explaining: “I’m very old school when it comes to goalkeepers because I’m happy with them as long as they can stop the ball from going in the back of the net. I don’t care if my goalkeepers can do 50 keepie-uppies because André’s job is to stop the ball from going in the back of the net.”
He also decried the way that De Gea was allowed to leave.
He added: “Regarding David de Gea, every player makes mistakes and he was absolutely unbelievable for Manchester United.
“The way that the club let him go in the summer was rather tasteless and I believe that he should have been shown a lot more respect than he was.”