Andre Onana is clear in his assessment that team honours are his priority, yet the United goalkeeper remains proud of the two individual awards he has won for September.
Both of those prizes came to Andre following public votes and he is grateful to our fans for the support he continues to receive, both on and off the pitch.
Onana feels at home with United, and he’s determined to continue his good form this season. If more individual awards come his way, he won’t complain, but the bigger picture is more important: he wants big prizes for the team…
Andre, you’ve won United's Player of the Month and the Premier League Save of the Month awards – congratulations. How are you feeling?
“Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm feeling good, very good. Receiving this award, it's always something nice.”
You've now won two Player of the Month awards at United. Where do you keep them?
“Well, I think I need much more. I will fight to win much more. But, like I always say, the most important thing is the victory of the team. At home there is always a place available for more trophies. So, trophies are always welcome.”
“Well, it's very important to feel the love. I feel the support from our fans because without them it's almost impossible to win games. I remember when I arrived here, I had a difficult start and the first six months it was difficult to set up in the country and they were always behind me. So, I want to thank them, first of all. And also I want to thank them for how they support my team-mates. You know, who came, who just arrived, who are settling in the club, and also for the support they give us in Old Trafford. Also, the away fans. Now, they are our soldiers. We know we can go anywhere with them. They will fight for us, they will fight with us. So for us it's important to know they are behind us.”
Your own team-mates support you so much and encourage you. Diogo Dalot said to us that your mentality is key to your form. Is that a good assessment from Diogo?
“Yes, I think he's right. But we are in this together, you know. We are in this together, we win together, we lose together. And Diogo is one of the guys who helped me the most when I arrived here. And I would like to thank him. And I also want to thank all my team-mates, the staff, you guys from the press, the medical staff. You know, we are all together in this because we are a team. And now we have to look forward and win games because that's what we are here for.”
“Yeah, I feel good now. I feel at home. I'm very happy to be here and happy with a lot of passion. But, you know, we are here to take responsibility. We are here to win big trophies and as long we don't win, it is difficult for all of us. We have to make sure we win something big this season and we have to make the right decision. We have to win games, we have to play how we train, we have to fight for every single thing.”
And you've had some impressive performances so far this season. Obviously we have to talk about that double save at Palace. How does that happen? Is it just your natural instinct or is it certain things on the training pitch?
“No, it's things you do in the training. So it becomes a routine, even in the game. Like I said before: you play how you train. So we train hard and you have the reward at the end of the week and then you have the reward in the week. Especially against Crystal Palace, it was a good save, a good double save, of course an important moment in an important situation. But it will be better winning that game. As a goalkeeper and defender, we always play for the clean sheet. Things are going good for for us [as a defence]. But as a team we always play to win. So if I have to choose, I will choose first to win. And if we can get the clean sheet, it's even better. So yeah, it was an important save. But I was disappointed because we went there to to win. Why? Because we are Manchester United and playing for such a big club is a big responsibility. It doesn't matter where you play, you must try to win.”
For a goalkeeper, is a double save like that the same feeling as scoring a goal?
“It's different, you know? When you score… well, the thing is, it's difficult to answer because I never score! So hopefully I score! If I score, it will be crazy. But I think it's different because we as defenders, it's a position of responsibility. So even if you make a good save, after that save you have a corner. So you have to be prepared. You have to make sure everyone is in the right place. So you don't even have the time to celebrate, you know, and you have to be focused like, ‘guys, we don't concede’, we have to be aware and alert. And you keep going, we keep going. But when you score, it's a different feeling. You know, with all the players running to you, and the fans are there with you. It's different. It's a completely different situation. But hopefully I will score one day.”
Is there a particular one that stands out to you? One that’s your best save so far?
“To be honest, when I look back, no, not any one save. But I think the best one is still yet to come. So let's see until the end of the season how it's going to be.”
You're a few months into working with a new coach in Jelle ten Rouwelaar this season. What can you tell us about his sessions, what they're like and your relationship?
“Well, for a goalkeeper, it's very important to have a strong and a very good relationship with his goalkeeper coach because you spend a lot of your time with him and he knows you. We have discussed a lot about everything, about build-up, about saves, about positioning, about opponents, about crosses, about corners, about tactics. Yeah, the relationship between him and me is top. You know, also, with others goalkeepers, because in the end of the day winning is not only me. So my colleagues who I'm working with them every day, I want to thank them. Also, I want to thank my previous goalkeeper coach, Richard. Last year I was here with him. We had a difficult year, but he was always there for me and, yeah, he is such an amazing guy and I wish him all the best.”
“No, because for me, the most important thing is the victory of the team. Like I always say, if we concede four, we have to make sure we score five because, at the end of the day, we work to win. We train every morning to win games. And of course it's a nice feeling to have a clean sheet. But the first thing, the main thing, and that is the priority is to win games. If we win games and we have a clean sheet, it's a perfect weekend for us. But yeah, also at the same time, if you cannot win, make sure you don't lose. So you have to play with that situation.”
Would you say that the Golden Glove is in your sights?
“It's not something I'd think about at the moment, you know, because, we have our own objectives, you know, and we have our own ambitions. But if it comes, it will be welcome. But we as players will give everything, you know, as a United goalkeeper, as a United player, as a team. We will fight for everything. Maybe at the moment things are not going how we want, but I know it will change and when it will change, we'll fight for everything. If I have to be fighting for the Golden Glove, I will go for it. I'm not afraid of anyone, and I know my team-mates will help me and I know I will help them. So we will fight for everything.”
“Before I say something about them, I have to thank them because these guys, they are being very great behind us. They have always been supporting the guys. It doesn't matter where we are, the difficult games, they were always with us, with us away and home. They were always supporting. So I would just like to thank them and tell them we're going to fight, even if it's tough at the moment. But we will give everything and I know it will turn. If it's not today, it's going to be tomorrow. If it's not tomorrow, it's going to be after tomorrow, and we're going to be in this together and we're going to be celebrating this big success and hopefully we'll do it soon.”