Manchester United explain why André Onana is not in Erik ten Hag’s squad vs Arsenal

André Onana wass not in the Manchester United squad as Erik ten Hag takes on Arsenal in his third pre-season fixture of the summer.

André Onana recently completed his £43 million move from Inter Milan to Manchester United in order to replace David de Gea, who left the club after 12 seasons, under Erik ten Hag.

United have played three pre-season fixtures so far, against Leeds United, Lyon, and Arsenal, where the club have scored five goals and are yet to concede across the three games.

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In goal for the ties have been Matěj Kovář and Tom Heaton, with the latter starting against Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Many anticipated that Onana may make his unofficial debut for the club against Mikel Arteta’s side, however, the Cameroon goalkeeper is not in the squad.

In a statement made by the club, Onana was “not quite ready to play yet”, but he is “still part of the squad” that warmed up in the MetLife Stadium.

Onana was with the team and was seen in the pre-match warm-up, and received big cheers from the United faithful in New York.

Speaking to MUTV ahead of kick-off, Ten Hag said: “There is a fantastic ambience [tonight], it’s a great stadium and we’re really looking forward to playing. It’s the first time the internationals are coming in [into the team].”

“So they’ve had one big training in their legs. This is their first game, so we will see, as we have to integrate them. I think we can do better [levels in training]. We work hard but we have to step up, we want to raise the bar.”

Anthony Martial, Dean Henderson, and Anthony Elanga were also not part of the squad, despite travelling to the USA – Elanga is due to complete a £15m move to Nottingham Forest in the coming days, and the former two are recovering from injuries.

Onana is expected to play a significant part in the remaining pre-season games as he looks to establish a new era of goalkeeping at Old Trafford.