When it came to David de Gea's struggles at Manchester United, few were more critical of the Spaniard's shot stopping (or lack thereof) than Roy Keane.
The ex-United captain was a vocal critic of de Gea's mistakes and general demeanour on several occasions during his final few seasons at Old Trafford. It is extraordinary to think that de Gea lasted three more seasons after the incident which sparked Keane's infamous "that's his job" rant in June 2020.
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Keane was not the only one to question de Gea's form - though undoubtedly one of the finest goalkeepers of the past decade, his peak was similarly undisputed as ending five years ago, and the dip in form in the intervening period was static.
De Gea departed United to little fanfare over the summer, and the exuberant Inter 'keeper Andre Onana was the man tasked with taking over from the stalwart between the sticks in Manchester.
To say Onana has endured a ropey start to life at the club might be generous. He was fortunate not to be sent off in his very first Premier League appearance, while mistakes against Bayern Munich, Galatasaray, and Brighton have cost United dearly thus far this season.
Despite this, when asked for his opinion on Onana's opening spell at Manchester United, Roy Keane chose first to make a pointed jab at the expense of David de Gea.
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Roy Keane questions mentality of Andre Onana at Manchester United
Roy Keane appeared once again this week on the new podcast from the Overlap 'Stick to Football' alongside Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, and Ian Wright.
The discussion on Andre Onana begins at 19:30 in the below video
When discussing Manchester United fortunes, the conversation naturally pivoted to the big summer signing Andre Onana, who has underwhelmed in goal since his arrival.
Neville pointed out that Keane had been one of the loudest voices in criticising Onana's predecessor - before Keane jumped in with a cutting jab at both 'keepers:
No, I would have kept him, they should have kept him. Huge mistake letting him go.
Can they not get him back? He's on a free, is he not?
No, he had to go. He was making too many mistakes.
Keane went on to give his thoughts on Onana's performances thus far, and said that he would have to show the mental resilience that legendary Manchester United goalkeepers of the past had done:
[Onana] not great. He's obviously had a really poor start. We're taking about the positions at any big club, you've mentioned a number of times Gary - goalkeeper at Man United. It's a huge personality, dealing with mistakes.
I remember speaking to goalkeeping coaches at United and they'd always say, 'keepers make mistakes at [other] clubs, but it's how you deal with it at Man United. It's how you deal with the mistake.'
Peter Schmeichel made loads of mistakes at Man United but what he did was he recovered very quickly. That's the problem we're finding out with the goalkeepers when it's mistakes four, five, six, seven in a run of games. That's when you start to worry.
He is not the first to question Onana's approach, or compare him to the legends of the past between the sticks for United.
Perhaps the finest keeper to have passed through Old Trafford, Peter Schmeichel, made similar comments on Onana's approach while covering Saturday's dramatic victory against Brentford, which saw the Cameroonian keeper make yet another error leading to a goal.
Andre Onana will be grateful of an international break to get away from the frenzy of the Premier League - but there is no doubt immense scrutiny on him as his poor performances continue.
Curiously, David de Gea has been back in Manchester this week.
David de Gea was there for Man Utd's first Women's Champions League match 🥰
He watched on from the stands at Leigh Sports Village as United drew 1-1 with PSG 🤝 pic.twitter.com/xBY53yhtFH— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) October 11, 2023
The Spaniard shared a photo to social media from a training pitch in the city, before attending the United women's team game against PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
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