- Manchester United agree deal for Inter Milan goalkeeper.
Manchester United have agreed a £47.2m (55m euros) deal for Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana.
The Old Trafford club will pay £43.8m up front for the Cameroon player, with an additional £3.4m in add-ons.
United hope he will be able to join them on their upcoming tour of the United States – although they have to arrange a visa for the 27-year-old.
Manager Erik ten Hag moved for the keeper at the end of the season after previously working with him at Ajax.
He will join on a five-year contract, with the option for a sixth.
Ten Hag feels Onana can be a significant addition to United’s squad and his pursuit of a new goalkeeper prompted David de Gea to turn down a new contract offer.
De Gea was United’s first-choice keeper for the past 12 years, making 545 appearances after joining the club under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Spaniard’s 190 clean sheets are a club record for a goalkeeper.
Onana spent seven and a half years at Ajax before moving to Inter in July 2022 on a free transfer.
He kept eight clean sheets in 24 Serie A games as Inter finished third and no team scored past him in 13 of their matches in the Champions League last season – the most of any goalkeeper in the competition.
He played against Manchester City in the Champions League final in June as Inter lost 1-0.
The keeper retired from international football in December after falling out with Cameroon boss Rigobert Song at the World Cup.
United will not overpay for Hojlund
Onana will be United’s second signing of the summer, after the arrival of midfielder Mason Mount from Chelsea for an initial £55m, and attention now turns to their third recruitment priority, a central striker.
United received no encouragement during initial discussions around signing Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Atalanta’s Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund is high on their list of alternatives.
Hojlund joined Atalanta in August 2022 and scored 10 goals in 34 appearances last season. He made his international debut in September 2022 and has six goals in six games all in qualifying for Euro 2024.
However, while personal terms are not expected to be a problem in completing a deal, there has been no agreement with the Serie A club over a fee. Atalanta are understood to want 70m euros (£60.2m) for the 20-year-old.
Having committed more than £100m on their two signings so far, and having been fined by Uefa for breaking Financial Fair Play rules last week, United want to stick to their budget.
It means other options, including Eintracht Frankfurt’s highly-rated France striker Randal Kolo Muani, 24, are coming into play.
Kolo Muani has attracted the interest of Paris St-Germain amid ongoing uncertainty over the future of Kylian Mbappe whilst Bayern Munich may turn to the 24-year-old if they also fail in their attempt to lure Kane to Germany.
Evans returns to Old Trafford
Former United defender Jonny Evans has signed a short-term deal with the club after leaving Leicester last month.
The move allows the Northern Ireland centre-back, 35, to play in United’s pre-season game against Lyon in Edinburgh on Wednesday and against Wrexham in San Diego on 26 July.
Academy graduate Evans played 198 games for the United first team before leaving in 2015, having won the Champions League, the Club World Cup, three Premier League titles and two League Cups. He then joined West Bromwich Albion from 2015-18 before spending the past five years at Leicester.
United say he has been training with the under-21s “whilst considering his options”.
“As part of the academy training programme, he has also taken part in a number of first-team sessions and impressed Erik ten Hag and the coaching staff,” the club said.
After the game at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield he will travel to San Diego with the academy, while the first team travel to New York to play Arsenal.
Meanwhile, defenders Tyrell Malacia and Rhys Bennett have been ruled out of the pre-season tour with injuries.
