Andre Onana: Why Man Utd's goalkeeper wears No.24

22 Jul 2023 11:00 BST
3 min read

Andre Onana’s transfer to Manchester United was confirmed on Thursday - but there have been question marks over his choice of shirt number.

After a deal was struck with Inter, the goalkeeper travelled to the United States to meet up with his new teammates and take part in the tour.

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Onana has opted to remain with the No.24 jersey, rather than taking on the traditional No.1. Indeed, istead of continuing the number that the likes of David De Gea, Edwin van der Sar and Peter Schmeichel had worn, Onana wanted the unusual number.

Why Onana wears No.24

Onana has worn the No.24 for much of his career because he was born on the 2nd of April - meaning 02/4.

Another reason is because of how he played before wearing the No.1. He had taken the No.24 for three years at Ajax but then decided to wear the No.1 for the 2017/18 campaign.

But the change came shortly before a dour season for Ajax: they missed out on the Eredivisie title, finishing second, while they were also, was knocked out of the round-of-16 in the domestic cup.

Furthermore, they did not make it past the qualifying rounds of both the Champions League and Europa League.

After he reverted back to the No.24, the Amsterdam-based club went on to have one of their best seasons - reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, under Erik ten Hag no less.

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— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 20, 2023

Ten Hag said of his £47.2million signing to the club’s in-house media. "Most important, always for a keeper, is clean sheets and he's not doing that on his own," began the manager. "Therefore, you need a very good defensive organisation, [it's] quite clear. But also the capabilities of a keeper is [about] keeping the goal clean. So this is the first criterion of a good goalkeeper.

"But, nowadays, football also demands good playing from the back, out-playing qualities, and that is a quality Andre has. You need both and you need to cover both areas. So yeah, we're happy, of course.

"I think with his physical presence and also with his personality, he is so keen on winning. He's so, so eager to win trophies and he will help the team and he will help the squad to get to higher levels."

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