Comparing Andre Onana and David de Gea's stats at Man Utd, there's a clear winner

Andre Onana has had a tough start to life at Old Trafford after coming in to replace David de Gea from Inter Milan in the summer.

The Cameroonian goalkeeper has conceded 10 goals in his opening five Premier League games, keeping just one clean sheet on the opening weekend against Wolves.

David de Gea on the other hand, is yet to find a club following his departure from Manchester United earlier this summer, and is rumoured to be considering retirement if he doesn't find a suitor soon.

United's fanbase became impatient and irritated at the Spaniard's performances last season, with a number of goalkeeping errors he made eventually leading to his exit.

Only two clubs in the Premier League have conceded more goals so far this season than United, with this working out to an average of two goals conceded by Andre Onana every game.

Whereas De Gea's Golden Glove winning 2022/23 not only involved 17 clean sheets, but also a rate of 1.13 goals conceded per game.

Although context is important, as the entire United team has not defended or played well so far this season, and the squad was more cohesive, organised and solid during De Gea's final season.

Onana has made some schoolboy goalkeeping errors though, such as sitting down before Taiwo Awoniyi's goal against Nottingham Forest, letting Declan Rice's stoppage time winner slip through his fingers, and more recently allowing Leroy Sane's tame shot to slip beneath him in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Onana has had a hard start to life at Old Trafford. Image: Getty

According to data accumulated over the 22/23 season and the start of the 23/24 season, we are able to see how well each goalkeeper has done in each statistic.

It goes without saying that Onana's sample size is a lot smaller, but each metric has been measured on a per 90 basis to keep things as level as possible.

Surprisingly, De Gea has been more effective with the ball at his feet, though with a lower 68.33% passing accuracy than Onana's 74.14%,.

De Gea also has a better save percentage at 70%, as Onana has only been able to muster a save percentage of 66.67%.

However, a huge factor in this is that Onana has faced an average of six shots on target per 90, and De Gea only faced 3.8 shots on target per match, owing to United's stronger defence.

The end of the season will give us more reliable stats to compare, but United's new first choice keeper still has some way to go to reach prime de Gea's level of shot-stopping.

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